Quite notably, the American version has focused on the rest of the office workers to a far greater degree than the original. In the UK (where it's subtitled An American Workplace to avoid confusion with the original) it has, shaky start notwithstanding, been much better received than most American remakes and become one of the most acclaimed comedies on TV today, winning accolades in particular for the performances of Carell and the rest of the cast. It also spawned Parks and Recreation, a Quietly Performing Sister Show set in the public sector rather than the private.

It was announced in late August 2012 that the ninth season would be its last, and the series finale aired on May 16, 2013.

This show contains examples of:

Paul Lieberstein has admitted that Jim's demotion back to Assistant Regional Manager, after being promoted half a season earlier was a result of poor audience response to the change and Dwight's resulting plot to seriously get him fired. This meant that the Ryan-Dwight alliance established at the end of "Scott's Tots" lead to nothing, as the Jim plot ended four episodes later.

Similarly season 4 was clearly setting up a Jim-yearns-for-more arc (probably to mirror the major Character Development arc Pam had gone through the year before) but the season was cut short due to the writer's strike.

The ninth season had Jim re-address this issue.

The romance between Dwight and Isabel is another example. The last episode she appeared in left it looking like they were simpatico.

Every time a Romantic False Lead is introduced for Jim or Pam following season 4 on, nothing ever comes of it. This included the character of Cathy, who hit on Jim in one episode after a season of hanging out in the background and then was Put on a Bus, and Brian the boom mic guy, who appeared to have been in love with Pam for years only for nothing to happen.

The wife of Robert California only appears on one episode, at the end of which Andy unkowingly makes a date with her, this is never adressed again.

Pam would've done anything with Jim (and even kisses him before he can react) in "The Dundies," but Jim just makes sure she gets her ride home.

Jim also displays this in "After Hours" when Kathy makes unwelcome advances towards him: Avoiding her, inviting Stanley to join them, tricking Dwight into the room, gently rebuffing her, and finally asking her to leave outright (having also tricked Dwight into the room again to make sure she leaves).

Acceptable Breaks from Reality: The documentary format can raise the question of just how long these people are going to keep filming before they have a finished product. And if it's a TV show in-universe as well, apparently none of the characters actually watch it. Fans tend to let it go for the sake of the jokes.

Lampshaded in "Goodbye, Michael", when Michael asks the camera crew to let him know if the show ever airs.

Another point to consider is that it's a multi-angle documentary, but no cameras or crew are ever seen on camera, even when the shot immediately switches directly across the room.

Even stranger is the lack of reaction to the cameras. This, of course, is not a problem within the office itself, as the longer they go on being filmed, the more used to the camera's presence the staff become, but what about when they go to a social function, sales call, or any other location where they will be around people who are not expecting cameras? Rarely, if ever, do others seem to acknowledge the cameras at all, even going as far as to say things or engage in behavior that they would never say or do if they knew others would see it.

Some fan theories make it a foreign production or American office life and is not aired in the US.

In the latest episode, Oscar finds out the show is starting to air in Denmark, narrated in Danish, and is more or less a hidden camera show. Everyone watches the promos, shocked at what has been filmed and mentioning they had no idea they were being filmed half the time, or that certain footage was included. Pam talks with Brian the fired boom mic operator, who reveals they've been filming a lot of private moments over the past ten years.

And now, near the end of the final season, the documentary has finally aired on PBS.

Accidental Marriage: Angela and Andy arrange to host their wedding at Dwight's farm. During a walk through, Dwight has a local German-speaking Amish minister perform a "mock" ceremony with himself as the groom. Subverted in that, until Dwight pulled this stunt, Angela was carrying on an affair with him and had finally decided to leave Andy.

Michael: Shirty, mole, lazy eye, Mexico, baldy, sugar boobs, black woman. I have taken a unique part of who you are, and I have used that to memorize your name. Baldy, your head is bald. It is hairless. It is shiny, it is reflective like a mirror. "M," your name is Mark.

Similarly... "D! W! I! G! H! T!"

Meredith's son also took to calling Dwight (Mr. Schrute) "Mr. Poop."

Andy gives Clark a variety of nicknames, but he's mostly known as Dwight Jr. or New Dwight.

Andy had also taken to calling Pete "Plop" so often that he forgot his real name and didn't realize he was the Pete that was dating his ex-girlfriend.

Adorkable: Holly. This is the reason why Michael falls for her despite his notable hatred of all HR people.

And who can forget Andy?

Erin. So much so the writers made her a regular.

Pam, but only when she's in a good mood (so rarely in the office).

Aesop Amnesia: Michael is a constant offender. If he ever learns a lesson, expect it to be long forgotten by the next episode.

Dwight tends to alternate between playing this straight and double subverting it. Throughout the show's run, Jim constantly pulls pranks on Dwight relying on Shmuck Bait that Dwight rarely ever thinks twice about falling for. However, on a number of occasions, Dwight has learned his lesson about trusting Jim, except that these occasions are usually when Jim is actually trying to help Dwight or otherwise be nice to him. A great example is when Dwight is working alongside Nellie to put together a Sabre retail store. Jim hears from Robert California that he's going to torpedo the project and fire Dwight, but Jim's attempts to warn Dwight himself about it are ignored, as Dwight simply brushes it off as another attempted prank.

A possible example by Andy in "Doomsday". For background, remember when Sabre took over and informed the salesmen that they have no commission cap; the salesmen let loose their A game and sales skyrocketed. In "The Incentive", a mere four episodes ago, Andy got the office to double profits in a fairly short period of time - despite them previously claiming that doing this at all was impossible - thanks to his "Tattoo My Ass Initiative". In short, lesson for management: the Office's employees respond very well to positive reinforcement. This makes it rather jarring when Andy, faced with the task to eliminate mistakes, allows Dwight to implement a solution that runs purely on negative reinforcement(Stop making mistakes now, or everyone loses their jobs.) The attempt is, predictably, a spectacular failure, only succeeding in making the office effectively fall apart for a day, quite possibly making even more mistakes than normal.

A.I. Is a Crapshoot: Dwight doesn't care for artificial intelligences. This allows Pam and Jim to trick him into thinking the sales website server has achieved self-awareness with the intent of destroying him (in terms of sales) in one episode. There's this exchange in a later episode:

Michael: Why do you have a diary? Dwight: To keep secrets from my computer.

The Alleged Boss: Michael Scott. Over Michael's head, there's David Wallace and Jan... no wonder Dunder Mifflin goes bankrupt. Charles Miner seems to be the only person they ever hired who's capable of exercising actual authority.

Alpha Bitch: Jan gets shades of this. Most of the time, she's completely justified in her treatment of Michael (who declares their relationship when he shouldn't or it's not existent). But she constantly gives him mixed signals. After they kiss, she pretends that it never happened, then kissed him again, then pretended like it never happened, then tried to get back together with him...only for sexual interests and not for an actual relationship.

Subverted when Michael is describing his love life to the office women. At first, he seems to be suggesting that he wants Jan to act this out, but she is the one demanding that he wear the uniform.

Practically inverted by Jim in "Booze Cruise". When it comes up that his girlfriend Katy was a high school cheerleader, he briefly doesn't believe it and overall seems to see it as a negative, in preference to Pam the "art geek". He dumps her near the end of the episode.

All Women Are Lustful: This is probably the most aggressive portrayal of female sexuality on network TV. Nearly every female character has had sex in the office, and many of them are quite frank about themselves in the Confession Cam.

Ambiguously Bi: Robert California. While he has shown quite the appetite for the lady folk, there has been more than one instance to suggest he wouldn't mind the intimate company of a fellow Y chromosomer as well.

Ambiguously Brown: Karen, to Michael at least ("Wow, you look very exotic. Was your dad a GI?"). Her last name (Filipelli) and dialogue suggest she is Italian-American. Rashida Jones is actually half black and half white.

Ambulance Chaser: When Michael thinks he's about to be sued for sexual harrassment, he hires his own attorney, who takes the opportunity to advertise directly into the camera about specializing in motorcycle and diet pill lawsuits.

Ambulance Cut: After Deangelo attempts a slam dunk on a free-standing basketball hoop and pulls the whole thing down on top of himself.

American Accents: Several Southern accents are attempted (poorly) in "Murder." The exception was Andy, who has an uncanny knack for dialects (and is played by an actor from Georgia).

Oscar: Ryan's big project was the website, which wasn't doing so well. So to give the impression of sales Ryan had us record sales twice; once as office sales and once as website sales. This is called misleading the shareholders. Another word for this is fraud. The real crime, I think, was the beard.

When Michael is defending himself for continuing to have a relationship with Donna (who he now knows is married) he describes her husband as such:

Ascended Extra: Phyllis Smith (Phyllis) was originally a casting assistant who was rewarded with a part after making a good impression at a read-through. Mindy Kaling (Kelly), a member of the show's writing staff, was pressed into service in her first appearance because the director needed an Indian actress.

Erin Hannon (portrayed by Ellie Kemper) was originally intended to be one of those characters that would be on the show for a few episodes and then leave the office for whatever reason. Kemper made such an impression on the producers, however, that she was made a regular.

As Himself: Creed Bratton has a pretty interesting history and is basically playing an exaggerated version of himself. In episode commentary, the actors say the real Creed is just like the character, except without the "creepy" tendencies of his onscreen persona.

Aside Glance: Characters who are "allowed" to shoot nonplussed or aside glances at the camera tend to be the most self-aware.

Jim usually does this several times an episode, and it has become his trademark. Dwight and Karen have both pointed it out.

Dwight tends to do it whenever he says something that he feels is particularly meaningful and/or insightful.

A rare one by Andy when he immediately realizes that the flasher's wanted poster drawn by Pam is really Dwight with a mustache.

Subverted by Ryan, who was left with Drake, the son of an ex-girlfriend who left the infant with Ryan in the year between the final two episodes. At the Martin-Schrute wedding, he himself abandons the baby, leaving it with Ravi to run off with Kelly. It's then implied to be played straight when Nellie ends up with Drake. Played straight with Holly and Michael.

''"I will not be blackmailed by some ineffectual, privileged, effete, soft penis'd debutante. If you wanna start a street fight with me bring it on, but you're gonna be surprised by how ugly it gets. You don't even know my real name! I'm the fucking lizard king."

Bad News in a Good Way: Inverted by Deangelo in his first shown meeting after Michael left. He delivers a series of good news, but acts as if they're all things everyone is supposed to be upset about. It understandably causes considerable confusion.

The Beard: Oscar's Gaydar helps him to realize that Angela is The Beard for her new politician boyfriend. Pam, meanwhile, denies that this trope even exists. She is later directly refered to as this during a press conference after her husband announces his homosexuality

Before My Time: In one episode, Michael goes clubbing with Ryan and chats up a girl with a tangent on Back to the Future. She doesn't seem to have heard of it, even though the movie or one of its sequels is basically always playing on some cable channel or other.

Or actually fire Devon, particularly if Creed actually deserves to be fired.

If you're Pam's boss, don't date her mom.

Do not cut in or save a spot for anyone in line on Pretzel Day! One of the few things Michael and Stanley agree on.

Do not hide Andy's cell phone in the ceiling and call it repeatedly (this, coupled with an embarrassing encounter with Michael, caused Andy to go seriously berserk, and resulted in him being sent to anger management classes).

If your name is Toby Flenderson and you leave the office to go to Costa Rica and then return, Michael will not appreciate it.

B.J. Novak as Ryan - He's in the opening titles and is on the front of the DVD packaging, but has increasingly decreased in prominence as the show has gone on. This has largely been due to the increasing role he's played behind the scenes of the show.

Arguably, Ed Helms' Andy as of season 8. Thanks to The Hangover movies Helms is probably the biggest "name" on the show post-Carell, and his character is now the office manager, but (perhaps for contractual reasons) he's still billed behind Rainn Wilson, John Krasinski, Jenna Fischer and Novak. Even newcomer James Spader, whose role is only a recurring one, bests him with an And Starring credit.

Birds of a Feather: Jim and Pam, Michael and Holly, Andy and Erin. Also Dwight and Angela, to an extent.

Birthday Episode: Michael's Birthday. You get one try in figuring out who's birthday was celebrated.

Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: Phyllis. In "Happy Hour," she revealed that she dresses provocatively in bars so her husband will beat up men who flirt with her.

Also with Darryl, who takes it upon himself to teach Michael some "black man phrases," such as "pippity-poppity, give me the zoppity" because he "just can't help himself." He also schools Michael on the inner workings of gang warfare, such as the use of "Fluffy Fingers," in which gangs tickle one another to the point of surrender.

On the other hand Andy and Darryl have become best friends even depending on each other for advice and support.

The Blair Witch Project: Jim recalls that his induction video to Scranton was in the form of a parody of the movie.

Dwight: Salesmen is king. As the best salesman, I am the king of kings. Oh, you say Jesus is king of kings? Well, what does that say to you about how I think of myself?

Blatant Lies: Among many others, Michael's claim that when he was in college, the professors were invited to the many parties he went to. As if it weren't blatant enough already, everyone knows Michael never went to college.

Again Michael, this time when being counseled for the public spanking of his nephew. He was apparently probed by Alf and raised by wolves. He was twenty-five years old before he saw his first human being.

Michael denies having a "compulsive need" to be liked in "Fun Run", despite doing almost anything he can on a daily basis to be loved and respected by his employees.

Phyllis: I don't think it's blackmail. Angela just does what I ask her to do so I won't tell everyone that she's cheating on Andy with Dwight. I think for it to be blackmail, it would have to a formal letter.

Board Game: An old Board Game adaptation of the CBS show Dallas is sold by Kevin to Andy in "Garage Sale", and leads to a subplot in the episode.

Interesting example, as deleted scenes are still considered canon by the cast and creators. This is more common now, what with the rise of "webisodes" and freely available online content, but The Office premiered at a time when deleted scenes were largely only available on DVD releases.

In-universe: The entire finale is a documentary shot as a bonus feature for the DVD.

Booby Trap: When Dwight is in Tallahassee and looks like he's about to be promoted and stay, the office decides to find out what's in the box he left marked "treasure". Fearing it might be booby trapped they get the most insane person in the office(Creed) to open it. When he does the only thing that seems to be inside is a picture of everyone there. At first they're touched but then a dart suddenly shoots out and up into the ceiling. Dwight TH's innocently that he had no idea it was rigged with a poison dart!

Book Ends: Holly Flax first appears in the episode "Goodbye, Toby". Her last appearance was in "Goodbye, Michael".

If you ignore "Finale", the last scene of the series is the entire cast watching the first scene of the pilot.

Bookshelf Dominoes: In "Boys and Girls" Michael accidentally drives the warehouse forklift into a large metal storage rack causing the other racks to topple over like dominoes.

In the season 4 premiere, Michael describes his flaws as singing in the shower, spending too much time volunteering, and occasionally hitting someone with his car.

Breakup Breakout: Steve Carell has so strongly eclipsed the rest of the cast that he has been firmly established as the show's breakout. This played a large part in his decision to leave the show to focus on his film career.

Break the Cutie: Erin Hannon in "Secretary's Day." So apparently you can pretend to fire her, make fun of her behind her back, and smuggle a flock of geese into her car, but tell her that her boyfriend used to date another co-worker and you're Deader Than Dead.

Some of those other events did seem to upset her. But what probably sent her over the edge was that it was Angela, the antithesis of herself.

Breaking the Fourth Wall: In the final season, the camera crew and the documentary they've been filming begin to intrude in the story lines.

Brick Joke: In "Casual Friday," Dwight sends out an innocuous looking memo with a secret message. He gleefully reveals to the camera that the invisible ink is actually urine. When Michael asks him to send a second one around, we see Dwight preparing the second memo by using Ryan's coffee mug.

"The Lover" has Dwight giving Jim a wooden mallard that is an Incredibly Obvious Bug. During the scene, he awkwardly returns a pen he borrowed from Jim. At the very end of the episode, by which time the mallard has been thrown away and everyone else has gone home, Dwight sneaks back into Jim's office and takes out the pen, which is his true listening device. "Do you really think I'd put my primary listening device in a wooden mallard?"

And then in "Scott's Tots", the pen comes back.

In "Traveling Salesman," there is a small bit where Dwight is doing Michael's laundry. This is a callback to when Dwight attempts to betray Michael and become the boss in the episode "The Coup".

Season 4's "The Chair Model," Michael makes everyone write down the name of a woman they'd set him up with. Jim writes down Pam's mom, and when he tells Pam, she tries to wrestle the paper away from him. Fast forward to Season 6 when Michael starts dating Pam's mom for real, and Pam and Jim both freak out.

In "Prince Family Paper," Michael is tasked with investigating a small, family-owned rival paper company. When the owner gives Michael a copy of his client list, Michael has an attack of conscience, realizing that this will allow Dunder-Mifflin to undercut them and drive the family out of business. Dwight has to physically wrestle the list out of Michael's hands. Several episodes later, Michael has put in his two weeks notice with Dunder-Mifflin, and tries to call Prince Paper for a job, only to be informed that DM has, in fact, run them into bankruptcy.

In "Ben Franklin", Ryan wants to know if the Foreman grill that Michael is grilling steaks on is the same one that he burned his foot on. Michael admits it is, but assures Ryan "I got all the foot off."

When recapping some of the weird people who interviewed for Michael Scott's job after Michael leaves, Jim mentions one guy who kept talking about the Finger Lakes, although the audience never saw the interview. At the end of the episode, there's a quick series of talking heads from each interviewee. The Finger Lakes guy is unexpectedly revealed. It's Jim Carrey.

During the women in the workplace meeting organized by Jan, each of the women is asked to list one of their strong points. Meredith mentions being very good at supplier relations. Then in the ethics meeting, she reveals she's been having sex with a supplier for months in exchange for rebates on supplies and coupons for free steak.

In Florida, Stanley's co-workers try to wake him up by telling him it's Pretzel Day.

In one episode Darryl is learning to be more effecent and records an all-purpose non specific talking head reaction interview to save time while the camera crew are in his office. About ten minutes later after Nellie's prank leads Andy's co-workers to believe his family were slave owners, Darryl's non specific talking head reaction is run.

In the pilot, Jim puts Dwight's stapler in some jell-o. Then, when Pam is out on her second maternity leave in Season 8's "Pool Party", Jim turns to Stanley as the audience for his pranks, and puts Dwight's stapler in a meatball. Stanley is a bit odd.

The Bus Came Back: For several characters. Roy, Karen, Todd Packer...one entire episode was focused on Michael revisiting all his old girlfriends.

Butt Monkey: Dwight, re: his relationship with Jim. Jim has next to no respect for Dwight, so Mr. Schrute routinely finds himself to be the go-to guy when Jim is bored and in a pranking mood. Dwight does, on rare occasion, get his own back.

Despite the fact that one of the most salient aspects of his job is to sort out conflicts, Toby finds himself the constant receiver of heaping dollops of ridiculous abuse from Michael.

To a lesser and inconsistent extent, the assistant to the "World's Best Boss" was this to him, too.

Andy is regarded as a naive, tactless, irksome and incompetent individual and salesman (which is certainly not an untrue view) and an even worse manager by the majority of his co-workers, all of whom, for the most part, have no qualms voicing their annoyance with him. A somewhat subverted example, though, as they have shown that, despite all his foibles, they really do care and want the best for him.

Nellie becomes this to the aforementioned example in the last season, with him point blank telling her that he plans on being a "real bitch to [her]" as revenge for what she did to him in the previous season, though his animosity becomes less fixed on her as he not so gradually becomes a Jerk Ass to the rest of the staff as well, thanks to his aggressive new demeanor he adopted during his Outward Bound manager training.

Phyllis is the recipient of an almost daily serving of unflattering comments and abuse from both her boss and his loyal lapdog.

Meredith isn't all that popular amongst her co-workers (especially with Holier Than Thou Angela), given her unintentional penchant of causing a feeling of disgust to strike them to their very core with her anything but surreptitious life of wild sex, booze, and occasional heavy partying.

Gabe is perhaps this show's most predominant example; save for the eponymous HR rep himself, he is literally "the Toby" to the the entire office.

And who could forget Nick, the IT guy from Sabre? Or, as the staff knew him as (among other unwanted monikers), "Lurch" and "Glasses". Unlike his co-worker from the Tallahassee-based printers corporation, however, he did not lack the balls to eventually stand up to the Scranton branch office, but was able to pull it off successfully.

The Butler Did It: Inverted by Dwight. When he ends up as the Butler character in a murder mystery dinner party game, he immediately turns into the Munchkin hardass detective and starts Perp Sweating every other character.

Buxom Is Better: When comparing Pam and Karen, Kevin explicitly notes that Pam has bigger breasts.

In that same episode ("The Job"), Jan, previously dumped by Michael on the advice of Pam and the other office women, has returned to win him back. The office women tell Michael to be strong, and he confronts Jan—only to see that she has a brand-new and very big set of breast implants. They immediately get back together.

Michael: So, I guess we're getting back together. Pam: What happened? Michael: Your advice was good, but Jan's was bigger.

Several seasons later, Erin the new receptionist makes a new friend out of an old lady named Irene (portrayed by The Mary Tyler Moore Show alum herself, Georgia Engel) that she meets in Florida. Erin tells her that her boyfriend Andy rejected her, and Irene answers with "With those gazongas?".

Particularly egregious example in "Goodbye, Michael" - Deangelo and Andy are seen driving down a typical Southern California boulevard and California-style street signs are clearly visible.

Equally egregious is "Fun Run", among other episodes througout the show's run, where palm trees and the surrounding Los Angeles mountains can be seen in the background.

Callback: "Christmas Party" ends with a Minor Moment of Heartwarming when Michael is invited to drinks at Poor Richard's with his co-workers; "E-Mail Surveillance" had focused on how much everyone in the office (and even everyone in Michael's improv class) would lie to avoid Michael following them to social events outside work.

In season 2's "The Client", we learn Michael has written the screenplay for a film called Threat Level Midnight. The screenplay is referenced in several later episodes, and the completed movie is finally seen in the season 7 episode of the same title.

Though the finished movie seems to occur in a later timeline than the screenplay from season 2. In the screenplay, Catherine Zeta Jones is merely a secretary to Scarn with a Subordinate Excuse, and Scarn and Goldenface have a somewhat friendly conversation at one point. In the movie, Catherine Zeta Scarn has been murdered some time ago, by Goldenface, making him Scarn's most hated adversary.

In season 3's "Women's Appreciation", we learn that Creed uses the women's rest room "for number two". In season 7's "Goodbye, Michael", we see he's still doing so.

In season 5's "Casual Friday", Michael calls Pam into his office and tells her that he's given Ryan the sales job instead of her, then reveals that he was just kidding, and that the job is, in fact, hers. This harkens back to the pilot episode, in which he called Pam into his office and pretended to her fire her. Lampshaded when Pam admonishes Michael to stop fake-firing people.

In Season 7, Toby is visibly reluctant to enter the church where Cece Halpert is being baptized. At first glance, it appears he's just upset about seeing his crush's baby. But then he talking heads that "He and the big guy have a lot of catching up to do." It's actually a reference to a much earlier sequence where Toby admits dropping out of seminary to date his now ex-wife.

In Season 8's "Pam's Replacement", after spending the entire trying to make Jim admit that a very pregnant Pam's new replacement is hot, which included a lie detector test, they found out he has high blood pressure just like his father. This was first mention in Season's 6, "The Mafia".

Nellie Bertram, first seen applying for the Scranton manager position in Season 7 finale "Search Committee", pops up again in Season 8 working at the Sabre HQ in Florida.

Not necessarily. "The Client" proves that he can tell a joke pretty well(especially since it's implied that jokes are a key part of his sales pitch). Michael's problem is that he's terrible with situational jokes and coming up with his own material.

Not just situational. He's proven time and again that even with prepared material, he is a terrible public speaker and a horrid stand-up comedian. He can tell correctly a joke when Pam goes over it carefully (as "The Client" proves) but if he prepares his own, every characters knows that This Is Going To Suck. This is lampshaded repeatedly every time Michael opens with "Good Morning Vietnam!" which gets met with a room-wide groan.

His failure in most situations probably comes from trying too hard, and trying bury his desperation for approval with a facade of ludicrous overconfidence. When he's actually relaxed and in his element, such as during a one-on-one sales pitch with a client, he's really very competent and charismatic. The jokes are successful in these cases because he actually reads the situation well, employs empathy to great effect and makes the client feel valued and entertained rather than offended.

Can't Hold His Liquor: Despite showing up a good while after Michael buys booze for the party in the Christmas episode, Todd Packer is the only one to pass out.

To be fair, he is somewhat implied to have been drunk upon arrival, probably from another party.

Probably driving himself, explaining his DWI arrest later in the series.

And there were twenty handles of vodka. For eleven people.

Captain Morgan Pose: Michael does this on occasion, like in his and Dwight's first meeting with David Wallace in "Stress Relief".

Captain Oblivious: Stanley tunes out everything that goes on around him. The entire office spends the cold open of "Costume Contest" trying to challenge his oblivious sense and he fails to notice Kevin dressed as Phyllis, shirtless Andy, the fake computer monitor Jim slips on the real one, the "everyone sits backwards" meeting where Michael proclaims 8000 percent profits for the Jupiter branch, mustache Pam or Dwight's pony.

Jim: Stanley just took a sip of my orange juice instead of his hot coffee and didn't notice, so the question begs to be asked: Is there a limit to what he won't notice?

Creed suffers from this as well. During a round of side betting amongst the staff, they switch Creed's apple with an old potato they found behind the fridge. Creed doesn't notice even after biting into it.

Car Fu: Andy does this with stealth by using his hybrid's electric engine to sneak up on Dwight and pin him to a hedge.

This really seems to come off as a parody of this trope, considering how often he does it for no particular reason and how even the rest of the cast tends to see it as extremely annoying. In one episode when Andy plays a part in a musical, Jim and Pam point out that it's enjoyable listening to him sing... in a setting that's actually appropriate for it.

In-universe, in Michael's movie Threat Level: Midnight, he writes the plot to center around a hockey game seemingly to give himself a chance to show off his ice skating skills.

Averted with Creed, despite his Grass Roots pedigree he almost never participates in the many musical interludes the cast indulge in.

Mirrored when Michael proposes to Holly while the two are being drenched by fire sprinklers. Considering there was a discussion earlier in the episode about Jim and Pam's example above, one has to wonder whether or not that was intentional.

Celebrity Paradox: In the season 4 episode "Money," Michael Scott critiques the film Live Free or Die Hard. In season seven, his newest hire is a hotshot traveling salesman played by Timothy Olyphant, who was the villain in that film. Speaking of Olyphant, see next entry.

Michael also mentions watching The Wire a season or two before they started taking notes from that show's casting director.

In season 3's "Back from Vacation", everyone's making fun of Dwight for tape-recording and transcribing a meeting in Michael's absence by inventing all kinds of outlandish occurances. At one point Phyllis tells him, "Jim Carrey just walked in! Dwight, get his autograph for Michael!" Carrey appears in season 7's "Search Committee" as the Finger Lakes Guy.

In a blooper from season two's "Christmas Party" episode, Dwight is shown angrily firing paintballs at a poster for The 40-Year-Old Virgin featuring Steve Carell's character from that film (however, the canonicity of the outtakes falls into unknown territory).

This one will blow your mind. In Season 1 - "Diversity Day", Ryan and Jim are watching Chappelle Show on Pam's computer. Jim reluctantly agrees that the girl in the Chappelle sketch they are watching is kind of cute. Rashida Jones (aka. Karen) was a female actor used in several of Chappelle's the earlier sketches of his show. Therefore, there is a chance that Jim is actually reluctantly commenting on his attractiveness of his future-to-be reluctant girlfriend.

In "Viewing Party", when Michael is invited to a Glee party, he says his favorite character is "the invaild", who is played by Kevin McHale. Kevin had eariler played a pizza boy who Michael had kidnapped in "Launch Party".

Celebrity Resemblance: In "The Sting," Kelly comments that Timmy Olyphant's Danny Cordray looks a lot like Josh Duhmael. Also an Ascended Meme as this comparison comes up a lot in real life as well.

In a deleted scene from the 9th season premiere, Creed thinks the new interns look more like Siskle and Ebert than Jim and Dwight.

Character Development: Phyllis and Pam are quite different in later seasons than their shrinking violet behavior in the early ones.

Nearly the entire support cast has this. Creed went from being the quiet guy to being the weird guy. Kelly went from being the traditional Indian girl to being a cheerleader who hasn't grown up. Erin went from the oddly strict secretary to the girl who doesn't quite get it. Even Dwight's unique view of the world went from being geeky, paramilitary and a little too serious to full fledge paranoid.

Pam and Jim can both be argued in the sense that each started with dreams of leaving the Scranton workplace; they saw their jobs as menial, and the only thing that kept them there was each other. Now, though, all their dreams of going beyond Dunder-Mifflin have gone, and it's been hinted many times that Jim is following Michael's path to management despite his apathy for a career in paper. They're content to just stay there, although still will complain about the job often.

Ryan started as sort of an Only Sane Man outsider perspective character but became increasingly Jerk Ass as he rose in the company becoming Corrupt Corporate Executive, falling from grace, and ending up just as messed up as anyone else in the office.

Dwight. Going from the character everyone in the office is either annoyed or perplexed by, into...well, still perplexing, but damn golden-hearted. Also, realizing that his boss is grossly unfair to him and learning to stop hero-worshipping Michael.

Character Filibuster: Used in the literal sense by Dwight to stall for time at the volleyball game while waiting for Pam to get back from the ER.

In "Search Committee", Jo praises Nellie's integrity for not talking about the friendship between them when interviewing for the Regional Manager job. However, based on Nellie's later talking head, in which Nellie states that her friendship with Jo will get her the job, chances are she either forgot to mention it in the interview, or she knew that Jo would bring it up herself.

In "Welcome Party", Jim, after discovering a number of things about Nellie "intended"" to paint her as The Woobie, gets Pam to help him defend her as the rest of the office trashes her. Made infinitely worse by the fact that this happens immediately after Nellie steals Andy's job.

In "Andy's Ancestry", Pam begins talking up Nellie after apparently finding her to be "fun".

In "Work Bus", Erin spends some time with Nellie. While Nellie's goal of adopting a child would logically appeal to Erin, the fact that Erin seems to believe that Andy hates Nellie for no real reason, and Nellie is the one comforting a crying Erin when Andy refuses to provide Nellie with a character reference, makes it fall squarely under this.

Characterization Marches On: When he was first introduced Andy Bernard was a douchebag fratboy asshole with anger management problems and a sleazy, predatory attitude towards women. He went to an anger management class after punching a wall, but the rest of his early character does not mesh well with the later portrayal of Andy as a good-hearted, wimpy guy who wrote a response to The Vagina Monologues called "The Penis Apologies".

Justified as in those predatory moments, he seems to be trying to impress Jim more than anything. And his anger management training time and relationship with Angela seem to have hammered out most of the douchebag confidence he once had.

Andy is veering back to an assholish person in Season 9, which pushs Erin towards Pete.

Mindy Kaling was originally a writer who was pressed into service in "Diversity Day" because of her Indian ethnicity. The businesslike Kelly who slaps Michael in that episode does not match up well with the flighty, shallow Kelly of later seasons (as Mindy Kaling admitted on a DVD commentary).

Charlie and the Chocolate Parody: Michael puts five Golden Tickets worth 10% each off for a year's supply of paper into packs of Dunder-Mifflin paper. Unfortunately they all end up at Dunder Mifflin's biggest client, Blue Cross. Even worse, he forgets to write "one per customer" on the tickets.

But then after he tries to bully Dwight into taking the fall, it turns out that Blue Cross was ecstatic over the promotion and makes Dunder Mifflin its exclusive provider of office supplies out of gratitude, making it a public relations and sales bonus. So Michael tries to reclaim credit.

Erin also plays this role sometimes, having her Twelve Days of Christmas "presents" pluck out her hair, scratching her face and attacking her in other ways. Also, while riding in a shopping cart, being pushed by Kelly, she falls out and hurts her leg while Kelly and Ryan make out.

Andy too, tearing his scrotum, and falling into an empty box while doing Parkour.

Chick Magnet: Jim, who attracts Pam, Karen, Katy, Brenda, Jordan (in a deleted scene), Cathy, and others, like Meredith. Lampshaded in "The Fire" when every woman in the office proclaims that Jim is who they'd do.

Christmas Episode: So far the only seasons not to have Christmas episodes were one (only six episodes long) and four (interrupted by the 2007 writer's strike).

Color-Coded for Your Convenience: An inversion. Michael color-codes the back of his saleslead rolodex card entries with information about his clients. However, he admits that every color he uses is a warning to not bring up that info during a conversation with that particular client.

Color Me Black: In the episode "Diversity Day", Michael has the whole office do this as a tolerance exercise, having them place post-its with a race written on their foreheads, with the wearer unable to read it. It fails miserably because (1) nobody wants to act prejudiced and so participate grudgingly, (2) some, like Stanley, have their own race by accident, and (3) Michael is clearly the most bigoted person in the room.

In "The Secret," Dwight investigates after Oscar takes a sick day. He sees Oscar get out of the car with his partner Gil, stroke his hair and...

Dwight: I found out something very interesting about Oscar today. [beat] He was lying about being sick!

In "Gay Witch Hunt," Michael discovers and tells the entire office that Oscar is gay. At the end of the episode, he looks out his window to see Oscar getting into Gil's car.

Michael: There's Oscar's roommate, Gil. [beat] I wonder if he knows.

Angela in "The Job", when Michael thinks he's getting promoted and Dwight takes over as the regional manager.

Dwight: How would you like to spend the night with the regional manager of Dunder Mifflin Scranton? Angela: No, Dwight. I don't care if that's how they consolidated power in Ancient Rome— Dwight: No, no! Not, not Michael! Me! I'm taking his job...

The Complainer Is Always Wrong: Averted in the season 7 Halloween special with Oscar complaining that the coupon book prize was stupid but he was the one to win the 15000 dollar coupon book after saying it costs more to get all the things in it. Usually in-universe with Michael's regards to Toby.

Concussions Get You High: Dwight starts acting uncharacteristically nice after crashing his car. The others eventually realize that he has a concussion and take him to the hospital. During this bout of identity amnesia Dwight also shows absentmindedness and compulsive behavior not unlike fictional portrayals of being high on marijuana.

Continuity Nod: The pilot concerned possible downsizing of the company and the inability to "justify a Scranton branch and a Stamford branch" and that one branch would incorporate the other. The downsizing remains a part of the plot for the rest of the season, but the Stamford branch is not mentioned until season three, when Jim transfers to that branch. Shortly thereafter, the Scranton branch absorbs the Stamford branch.

In "Local Ad" in season 4 Jim creates a Second Life character that is a sportswriter in Philadelphia. Fast forward to season 9 and Jim is itching to start a career in Philadelphia doing sports marketing.

At the end of "Niagara" (Jim and Pam's wedding episode) the final shot features Pam with her head on Jim's shoulder, similar to their Sleep Cute moment way back in season 1. Not a bad day indeed.

In "Secret Santa," Pam asks Jim if he bought the company to save his Christmas party - he responds by promising never to buy a company without telling her first, a reference to him buying a house without telling her in Season 5.

In "Business School," Dwight asks Creed if he has any tools that can turn a broom handle in a wooden stake. In "Women's Appreciation," he's seen stabbing into a bush with a sharpened broom handle, most likely because all of his other weaponry was taken away in "The Negotiation" two episodes earlier.

In "Here Comes Treble" Meredith yells "Stop bagging my head!" after Dwight throws a net over her, a call-back to the bat incident.

Cool and Unusual Punishment: After learning that Ryan told his business class that a paper company would inevitably fail against a computer company, Michael moves his desk next to Kelly's. (Toby wonders if it was a punishment for him, as Kelly and Ryan bicker constantly).

And then, to punish Ryan's insubordination, Jim moves his desk into the closet between the bathrooms.

When Dwight insults her about her baby weight, Pam and Jim learn morse code just to tap out messages about bombs and detonators, knowing paranoid Dwight will understand them and go crazy.

Karen tries to annoy Jim with the squeaking of the chair that he swapped with hers. Jim responds by repeatedly singing the chorus from "Lovefool" by The Cardigans (with Andy, of course, immediately joining in). Karen is begging him to stop in seconds.

Conservation of Competence, taken to its logical conclusion: after Jim is promoted, he becomes just as gullible and gaffe-prone as Michael, even outside of work. Heavily lampshaded.

Also, when Michael takes an entry-level telemarketing job, he becomes much sharper socially and relating to people, but can't make a sale, which is basically the opposite of his qualities when he is in his manager role at Dunder Mifflin.

Contemplate Our Navels: It's not uncommon for characters to discuss/argue about a small, unimportant topic for several minutes at a time. One of the funniest scenes in the series is an argument between the entire cast over the correct usage of "who" and "whom."

Cosmic Deadline: Steve Carell announced before Season 7 began that he would be leaving the show by the end of it, so naturally that season saw the end of several subplots that had been running for years. Michael gets closure with several former love interests, finally acknowledges that he and Ryan will never be friends, completes Threat Level Midnight, realizes Packer for the Jerk he is, etc.

Crazy Cat Lady: Angela. She has a motherly devotion to all of her cats, sometimes bringing one into work (keeping it in her filing cabinet!), while watching the rest of them on a Nanny Cam. Kevin, Meredith, and Oscar once actually caught her grooming a cat with her tongue. Not to mention that she coughs like a cat with a hairball...

Crazy-Prepared: Dwight stashes weapons all over the office (most notably a knife he keeps in the filing cabinet under the file "A. Knife"), and is convinced that he's prepared to survive any eventuality.

Pam: "There are two keys to the office. Dwight has both. When I asked him what would happen if he died, Dwight answered 'If I'm dead, you've all been dead for weeks.'"

When Ryan rattles off a list of excuses why he can't go to Benihana with Michael (including both food allergies and having just eaten there) Jim complains that he used all the good excuses and Ryan reveals that he keeps a list of excuses on his Blackberry.

Credits Gag: In the episode "Michael Scott Paper Company," the title sequence switches to show scenes from the titular company, as Michael has left Dunder-Mifflin.

When Deangelo takes over, the scene of Michael adjusting his Dundie Award statuette in the last shot of the credits is replaced by Deangelo adjusting a strange, brightly-colored figurine of his own. When Deangelo is injured and forced to leave, it's replaced in turn with a shogun statue for Dwight and a cartoonish sumo wrestler facing its butt to the door for Creed. Andy knocks his hippy doll over in season 8

Cringe Comedy: Toned down from the UK original, where it was the main focus. Still used without mercy, especially with Michael. Any time Michael is speaking in front of a large group, prepare to cringe.

There was a tendency to do this with Jim and Pam a lot around the period in which Jim was a co-manager alongside Michael.

Erin's public dumping of Gabe.

Crossover: The cold open of the episode "The Seminar" features the historic meeting of Michael Scott and David Brent.

Although after lists all the survival items he'd hide in the huge, hollowed out book he chose, he does kind of answer the question by mentioning that he'd take a Harry Potter book for reading. And although he may indeed have missed the point, the game was designed to learn about the psychologies of the players... mission accomplished, and then some.

Description Cut: In "PDA", Holly has a talking head in which she gives a description of Michael Scott basically exudes sex. As she's talking, a montage is shown of Michael being anything but sexy, culminating in a shot of him slouched in a chair with his face and bits of his suit smeared with Cheese Puff dust.

The Determinator: Dwight in "Tallahasee" tries to make it through a Sabre seminar even though he's in pain from an appendicitis. Later in the day he still tries to give a presentation just a few hours after having an emergency appendectomy.

Development Gag: Charles Miner said he use to work for Saticoy Steel. The Office is filmed at Chandler Valley Studios, which is located on a Saticoy Street.

Did They or Didn't They?: It's unclear exactly what happened between Jan and Michael in "The Client." Michael attempts not to talk about it to the camera the next day, then claims they went to a hotel, made out, talked, and then fell asleep. Starting with the next episode, and in numerous episodes afterward, various claims are made by Michael and through co-worker gossip.

Dinner and a Show: Jan and Michael's titular gathering in "Dinner Party" descends into utter chaos, with each of them berating the other and breaking their possessions, much to the simultaneous entertainment/horror of their guests.

Disgusting Public Toilet: In one episode Jim and Michael go out on a sales call. When the camera catches Micheal coming out of the Woman's side of a gas station restroom in the background during Jim's talking head, Michael's next talking head has him explain the Men's was too filthy to use.

Disproportionate Retribution: Jim hits Dwight with a snowball. Dwight traps Jim and pelts him relentlessly with a barrage of snowballs while he's defenseless on the ground. Multiple times.

The Ditz: Kelly. Erin too, perhaps to a greater extent as she lacks the occasional flashes of manipulative cunning Kelly shows.

The Dog Bites Back: Phyllis has been blackmailing Angela into letting her run the party comittee. When Angela gets fed up with her abuse...

Angela: Shut up.

Phyllis: Excuse me?

Angela: I'm not moving the tree. Face it. The only power you have over me is this big secret that I know you're not going to tell. And you want to know how I know that? Because then you won't be able to plan your stupid, tacky parties anymore. So you move the tree.

Creed Thoughts - Jan 24 2012 Buying a zoo in this economy is a pretty crappy idea, but it's a lot better than buying the farm. (Cause that means you're dead).

Don't Make Me Take My Belt Off: Michael after warning his obnoxious 20-something intern/nephew Luke to stop acting up ("I'm going to count to five") bends him over his desk and spanks him several times. It is such a Crowning Moment of Awesome for the other employees who thoroughly dislike Luke that they reenact it.

Double Entendre: Michael finds it extremely hard to go all day without using "That's what she said."

His jokes always left Jim satisfied.

Double Standard: Abuse, Female on Male: Jan and Michael's sexual relationship is very clearly exploitive and would easily be Dude, Not Funny! if their positions were reversed. However, we really only hear his side of things, and he appears to dish out as much as he gets in "The Dinner Party." In the end, while it's played for laughs, the abuse is clearly not portrayed as "okay". They both spar verbally, but physically Jan is shown to clearly be the aggressor, starting with "forgetting" the Safe Word and culminating with Michael declining to press charges and police advising him to leave his condo to stay with Dwight after she breaks his prized flatscreen TV with one of his Dundies in a rage.

The Dragon: Dwight often seems to like seeing himself as this to Michael.

Driven to Suicide: This is what started the entire plot. According to Word of God, an employee named Tom Peets killed himself just before the events of the first season, and the documentary crew came to see how Dunder-Mifflin handled his death. Instead of finding people in grieving, they found the insane antics of the entire office, and stayed to film it. Mentioned in "Perforrmance Review," where Michael finds a suggestion box with a paper asking for depression management, signed "Tom".

Dropped a Bridge on Him: Deangelo Vickers ends up in a coma after the basketball-hoop accident in "The Inner Circle".

Dude Magnet: Pam and Erin. Pam manages to attract Jim, Roy, Toby, Brian the boom mic guy, Andy, Ryan, Danny Cordray, and has been lusted after by various men in the office, like Kevin and Creed. Erin attracts Andy, Dwight, Gabe, Pete, Clark, Ryan, and her own foster brother.

Dug In Deeper: In "Benjamin Franklin", Michael notices that his acronym for "Guys' Afternoon In" spells "gay" (sort of). Each attempt to rephrase makes it sound even more gay.

Dumbass Has a Point: Stopped clocks are right twice a day, and even Michael Scott stumbles into some legitimate points one or twice a season. Witness:

His response to Andy's anger about having told Erin about his former engagement to Angela: "You didn't tell her you were engaged to someone who sits six feet from her? That's, like, Mr. & Mrs. Smith crap."

His attempt (in deleted scenes) to claim that Meredith was drunk when he hit her with his car actually turns out to be a reasonable argument.

His speech to Stanley at the end of "Did I Stutter?", when he reasonably points out that however little Stanley thinks of him, he has to treat him with the respect due a boss.

Everyone attacks Michael's obsessions with the idea that Donna wants him to kiss her again, and later that she's cheating on him - both of which turn out to be correct.

Meta example - As it turns out, both Dwight and and Michael are correct in "The Secret" to assume that Oscar is faking sick to get out of work. Dwight is just so excited about this that he misses The Reveal - that Oscar is gay.

When Dwight gets bad performance reviews, he's convinced that Kelly has it in for him and is falsifying his data. Jim discovers that he's right, she is sabotaging both Jim and Dwight's reviews as payback for not coming to her America's Got Talent finale party.

In Jim's perspective, he agrees with Dwight (for once) when questioning Ryan on why a paper company's website would need a social networking feature.

With the news of China's rapid economic growth, Andy and Phyllis suggested that they should drop a bomb on China to make sure they don't invade America. Michael, who brought up the paranoid rambling in the first place, tells them that it was a stupid idea.

Kevin, of all people, is the one to finally call out Sen. Lipton in "Vandalism":

In the seventh season finale Kelly tells Jo that Gabe was unprofessional in dating Erin in order to suck up to Jo but she pointed out that Gabe was acting creepy when Erin broke up with him.

Also when Dwight gets snubbed at an upscale shop at the Steamtown Mall.

Kelly: "You know what Dwight? You need to go back there and 'Pretty Woman' their asses."

Jim: "Wait, wait wait. That's actually a really good idea, Kelly."

Kelly: "What did I say?" [talking head] I talk a lot, so I've learned to just tune myself out."

Early Installment Weirdness: Notably apparent with Dwight. Early episodes painted him as a Know-Nothing Know-It-All who was great at selling paper but clueless about basically everything else, to the point that he had to go to Toby to find out about the female anatomy. After a while, he became a genuinely knowledgeable, if somewhat backwards, businessman and Kavorka Man.

Embarrassing Slide: Michael Scott does this intentionally to show off who he's been dating. He oversells it with a smiling "Whoops! How did that get in there?" while no one else is amused.

He does it again in "Body Language".

Enemy Mine: In "The Merger," Michael tries to invoke this by letting the air out of everyone's tires, blaming Vance refrigeration, but achieves it by accident when everyone realizes it was him.

Eskimos Aren't Real: Kevin thinks that mummies are fictitious monsters from the horror genre, and expresses surprise and fear when people tell him that they exist and there are some in a local museum.

Eureka Moment: When Pam is trying to bluff her way into an office administrator job, and Gabe is trying to call her bluff, she realizes he's incapable of actual confrontation.

Pam: Say that I'm lying or say I have the job. Make a definitive statement, Gabe.

Pam: (in talking heads) One thing I learned from watching Tournament Poker at two in the morning: you don't play your cards, you play your opponent.

Even Jerk Asses Have Standards: In "Branch Closing", where Jim Halpert is disgusted at another manager's disloyalty, he admits begrudgingly, "Say what you will about Michael Scott, but he would never do that."

And when Toby is framed for having drugs in his desk, Michael decides it's too far when the police arrive and begin to arrest Toby, and reveals that he placed the "drugs" in the desk. It was caprese salad.

Creed, a man who is normally unfazed by vulgar acts and has no problem disturbing his coworkers, is creeped out by Dwight pretending to give birth to a watermelon.

Dwight has some strange ideas about society but he's never okay with revenge murder.

Even the Guys Want Him: Ryan apparently. Michael Scott has a sublimated crush on him, and Angela's closeted fiancee was looking at Ryan's Facebook photos at 3 in the morning. Ryan used to be squicked out by this but has slowly gotten used to it.

Exact Words: When Andy asks Creed to read what it says on a chinese bottle, he does exactly that. In chinese. With no translation.

Expy: The first episode of the ninth season introduced two interns lampshaded as "New Jim" and "New Dwight". A deleted scene has Creed compare them to movie reviewers Siskel & Ebert.

Mark from "Moving On", as lampshaded by Pam, is an expy of Michael Scott. With the added behind the scenes bonus that Bob Odenkirk was one of the original candidates for the Michael role.

Extended Disarming: Played for laughs in episode "E-mail Surveillance", where Michael is made to surrender all his imaginary guns at improv class. Also the many occasions upon which Dwight is forced to surrender his in-office arsenal.

Eye Scream: Toby getting a paper cut in the eye during a paper plane competition.

In a more literal example, the same episode shows Andy having to demonstrate how to properly use an eye wash in a laboratory. Made especially squicky since it's established that Andy is particularly squeamish about things involving eyes, and shrieks with pain through the entire procedure.

Ryan's transfer to Corporate can be seen as this. While up until then he's portrayed as a relatively sympathetic character, during the fourth season, he becomes arrogant and thoroughly unsympathetic, somewhat playing the role of Big Bad for that season.

Dwight's Earth Day alterego, Recyclops, in the cold opening of "Shareholders Meeting".

Michael: You know what, Pam, if in ten years I haven't had a baby and you haven't had a baby... Pam:[firmly] No, Michael. Michael: Twenty years. Pam:No, Michael. Michael: Thirty... Pam: ... Sure.

Ferris Bueller's Day Off: A deleted scene from Threat Level Midnight shows Michael Scarn parodying/ripping off the "Why are you still here?" scene from Ferris.

Also Michael's sleeping dummy with the string connecting the door to the arm so that someone entering the office triggers a snoring tape. It's not fooling Stanley, who lampshades how pointless the whole scheme is anyway.

Stanley: How is you being asleep at your desk better than you not being there?

Final Season Casting: Steve Carell left shortly before the end of Season 7, and while the show not only finished that season but had two full seasons after it, those seasons dragged out a few new main characters to fill the gap. James Spader got added to the title credits at the beginning of Season 8. note It was his second episode. The honor of Promotion to Opening Titles had been granted only once before, to Ed Helms after three and a half years of guest-starring. Catherine Tate as Nellie Bertram joined full-time in the middle of the season, and now Season 9 has given us Clark and Pete, and removed BJ Novak from the credits for the first time, as he had left.

Flanderization: So many. Many characters, such as Meredith and Creed, show up every episode now to make either a gross-out joke about sex and/or alcohol and a non sequitur, respectively. Perhaps the most egregious offender is Erin, though, who started off as a sweet and innocent girl, not the brightest bulb in the world, especially when it comes to older pop culture (such as not knowing who Marlon Brando is), but still competent. Nowadays, she thinks that if your boss asks you out, you have to accept, that disposable cameras are supposed to be thrown away immediately after taking a picture with them, and, when asked to follow Phyllis's lead in a conversation, takes that to mean repeat every word that she says exactly.

A perfect example would be Jan. In her last appearance in season 5, she sang an inappropriate song to her daughter in front of the office. Her next appearance in season 7 had her singing every other line.

Fridge Horror - That's just what dating Michael Scott does to you. Especially for a high-powered, controlling person like Jan who already has significant issues. She started publicly dating Michael because her therapist encouraged her to indulge her self-destructive tendencies, and she apprehensively told the camera that she might collapse on herself like a dying star. She was right.

Andy, after becoming regional manager started to come off more like Michael Scott. Then came "The Garden Party" and his actions are more understandable. Also averted since Andy's clueless (as opposed to Michael's childish buffoonery), but is capable and willing to learn. Michael would rarely defend his employees' integrity against an imposing boss as Andy did, would never go through with actually getting that tattoo as Andy did, and would never be able to handle the Darryl/warehouse situation as exceptionally as Andy did.

Also very notable is Kevin who started as a normal overweight man with a somewhat funny smile who was relatively competent at his job, (Gambling Addiction aside) to a bumbling stupid Fat Idiot and crazed pervert incapaple of basic math and accounting who is thought of as mentally retarded and even talks more ridiculously as the show goes on.

Though it has also introduced areas that he is capable in; he is evidently a great cook and a talented musician. "Nepotism" indicates that he has some familiarity with electronics as well.

Jim's pranks. Early on, it was fairly mundane things like the stapler in jello or hiding Andy's phone. Fast forward to Season 8 where Andy's brother had a garden party one weekend. Andy then plans his own garden party for the very next weekend at Dwight's farm and insists all the employes go. Assuming Jim found out first thing Monday morning, he then penned an impressively thick book, "How To Throw a Garden Party," had multiple copies professionally produced, and put them up for sale on Amazon, all on the off-chance that Dwight, the party's host, will search online for help, find and buy the book, and make a fool of himself. All in just a couple days.

As mentioned in the Headscratchers page, there is an explanation for the Garden Party prank. Dwight had mentioned that he was planning to break into hosting high-scale parties for some time, meaning it was likely that Jim was aware of this (after all, Dwight tends to brag about this kind of thing), and thus prepared for that actually happening with the above prank. This gains some credence after a Cold Opening in Season 9, in which Dwight stumbles across an incredibly elaborate prank that Jim had set up so long ago that he couldn't even remember it at first, indicating that he often sets these pranks up well in advance. Still Flanderization for sure, just not to the point of achieving the impossible just to pull them off.

Foiler Footage: In the script of the finale used at the table read, Michael Scott never appears. One of his two lines is dropped, the other one is given to Creed. An additional piece of dialogue was added to the Q&A, in which an audience member asks about Michael's whereabouts, and Jim, who still keeps in touch with him, mentions that Michael put Dunder Mifflin and the documentary behind him, and isn't interested in revisiting this part of his life anymore.

Force Feeding: In "Ultimatum", Michael forces Kevin to eat a large piece of broccoli after he makes a New Year's resolution to eat more vegetables.

Freeze-Frame Bonus: In "The Seminar", we see the performance rankings of Dunder-Mifflin Scranton's sales team: Jim is first, followed closely by Dwight, then Phyllis and Stanley, followed by three warehouse workers...then finally, Andy. Also counts as Continuity Nod.

Freudian Slip: In "Woman Appreciation Day", Dwight has one in his quest to catch a flasher.

Dwight: Pam, you can draw, kind of, why don't you work with Phallus on drawing a picture of the exposer that I can post around the community. Pam: "Phallus?" Dwight: Phyllis. Sorry, I've got penises on the brain.

Fun with Acronyms: Kevin realizes in the fourth season premiere that PB&J could stand for Pam Beesly and Jim.

Later in s6, Oscar mocks the symbols for DM stock (DMI) by saying they stand for Dummies, Morons, and Idiots.

In any sort of role-playing exercise, Michael will always give himself the role of "the heroic (something)" or a highly respected historical figure, especially if such roles aren't even required or can be detrimental to the entire exercise.

The Glasses Gotta Go: Parodied in a recent episode where Dwight attempts to look more refined in order to get back at a store that refused to serve him. When he's trying to get opinions on how to do so, a couple people mention that he should try not wearing the glasses, at which point Dwight immediately rips off his glasses, hurls them to the floor, and stomps on them. Then a couple more people pipe up that they preferred him with the glasses. And now Dwight can't see.

Invoked to an excessive degree by Michael when Pam forgets her contacts and has to wear glasses for a day. He completely refuses to listen to her, drowning out her attempts to talk by saying "Blah blah blah - I mean, I can't even hear you. It's just noise coming out of an ugly scientist." Kind of a backhanded compliment in that he implies she's spoiling her usually-attractive appearance.

The Glomp: Michael does this to Jim after he learns of Jim's engagement.

Pam glomps Jim when he returns from Stamford in "The Merger".

Go Look at the Distraction: The cameraman falls for this in "Weight Loss" when Jim and Pam want to get some private time. He is distracted long enough for Jim to close the door on him.

Gone Horribly Right: Darryl's prank on Andy to convince him that Sabre printers really are catching on fire and that the company has a huge cover-up going on to prevent loss of business. When Andy's printer test does confirm that this is in fact exactly what is going on, Darryl realize that he's in over his head.

Grand Finale: The series finale, titled "Finale" that aired May 16 2013.

Gratuitous French: When tagging along to the Winnipeg business trip, Andy brushes up on his French which he practices profusely before leaving. There is virtually no one in Winnipeg who actually speaks French, most of the French-speaking Canadian population being concentrated in the eastern portion of Canada.

Gratuitous Japanese: "Sempai" (先輩) does not mean a person is an assistant (to the) sensei. It is a term of respect used to refer to a superior or person of higher rank. The title is accurate given Dwight's rather high ranking in the dojo, however.

Inaccurate in how he used it when calling the sensei. When talking to a superior, you don't call yourself sempai.note "It's me, sempai."

A Handful for an Eye: During a prank on the Utica branch, Dwight's plan is to blow chalk dust in the guard's eyes if caught.

Hands Go Down: In Michael's improv class, the other students are happy to take part in a scene... until Michael is chosen to be in it.

In the finale, Dwight fires Kevin. Everyone else protests, and Dwight responds by asking them to make a case as to why he should stay. Just as everyone starts doing so, Dwight adds "based on his merits", and everyone immediately shuts up.

Happy Ending: Everybody gets what they want or deserve in the finale. Michael has children with Holly and is clearly an enthusiastic father. Pam and Jim sell their home and move to Austin to re-join Darryl at Athleap, and with severance pay on top of that. Dwight and Angela are married with their son, and Dwight is the Regional Manager. Oscar is running for State Senator, and appears to be winning. Kevin owns his own bar. Erin meets her birth parents. Andy gives the commencement speech at Cornell University and talks his way into a job there. Stanley is happily retired in Florida. Phyllis has a new co-worker to fatten up. Ryan and Kelly run off to elope. Nellie ends up with Ryan's baby (that he didn't want anyway). Meredith gets her Ph.D, Creed gets caught for his crimes, but apparently has made peace with it. And even Toby, poor endlessly abused Toby, finally gets to dance with Pam.

Erin, whom Gabe and Andy are fighting over, recently changed from to brunette to redhead. She even won the "Cutest Redhead" award at Michael's last Dundees, much to Meredith's chagrin.

He Who Must Not Be Seen: The documentary film crew. They've never been seen, although there was a point where, during "Stress Relief", someone knocks down the cameraman during the fire drill.

They have occasionally been referenced to and in "Dunder Mifflin Infinity" Michael takes the time to rescue the cameraman from the car. They also actually affect the plot in "E-Mail Surveillance" when they help Pam try and figure out if Dwight and Angela are dating.

They are very good at avoiding reflections. Not once have they ever been caught in a mirror, no matter how many times they've followed a character in a bathroom or highly reflective glass.

Finally averted in Customer Loyalty when an upset Pam is comforted by Brian, the mic guy. He requests that they turn the camera off, and it faded to black.

Hidden Supplies: Dwight has weapons stashed all around the office. Knives in the filing cabinet (labeled under A. Knife), sais behind the water cooler, jians in the sub ceiling, blowdart gun out of the toilet tank...

Fridge Horror settles in after you think that while the tank of the toilet would probably have the cleanest water of the entire system and thus be safe for Dwight to touch the blowdart gun with his lips, this is the office where Todd Packer has taken a dump in the manager's office (twice with the implied incident Ed Truck recalls), so Todd Packer would probably be the type to consider it hilarious to perform an upper decker...

Angela Kinsey (who plays Angela Martin) had a baby in May 2008, forcing the writers to do this. It's noticable late in Season 4 if you notice the face of normally-superthin Angela is a little larger than usual. You also rarely see her from the shoulders down. It was originally intended for her pregnancy to become part of a story arc, with the baby being Dwight's. However, the Writers' Strike killed that idea.

Hollywood History: The Ben Franklin impersonator tells the girls about his key-on-a-kitestring experiment.

Hollywood Law (as well as Hollywood Finance): There is almost no onscreen fallout from Ryan's fraud indictment beyond him simply being fired from Dunder-Mifflin. This should have led to serious consequences for David Wallace (as his supervisor) and virtually all of the cast (who were material witnesses). However, between seasons 4 and 5 the prosecution simply evaporates and is barely mentioned again. This is partially an aversion of Cerebus Syndrome and partially a Rule of Funny, but it's jarring nonetheless.

Michael spanking his nephew, while constituting assault in a legal sense, is brushed off in exchange of a mere 6 hours of counseling which he burns off in a single sitting with Toby (arguably worse than a real court imposed sentence, seeing how this is Michael and he despises Toby)

Hope Spot: There are a number of scenes in which it seems like Michael is finally being mature for once, only for him to turn it completely around seconds later. For example, his improv class where it briefly looks like he finally abandoned Chandler's Law for a bit, only for him to attempt to hold his acting partner at imaginary gunpoint in secret. Another is when it sounds like he's expressing confidence in Angela's party-planning abilities by asking her "Who else could do this?", only for him to point out in his next breath that it wasn't a rhetorical question.

A different example is in the beginning of the "Classy Christmas" two-parter, where Michael goes around making a concerted effort to make sure that no one had any latent issues or emotional baggage to bring to the ensuing Christmas party, with even Stanley being genuinely cheerful for once. It seems like there's going to be a Christmas party without any crazy drama this time... and then Michael finds out that Holly's coming back. He promptly throws out everything for the Christmas party that was about to happen, and sets up a new one that goes to Hell in a hand basket faster than you can say "Scranton Strangler".

Michael does have one instance of being an excellent judge of character. When choosing who should get a sales position between Ryan and Pam, Michael wants to give the job to Ryan because Pam doesn't follow through. He eventually gives Pam the job, but sure enough, Pam tricks her way into becoming an office administrator because she can't handle being a saleswoman.

On the other hand, Ryan had already proven to be a lousy salesman, so that was kind of a lose-lose decision either way. In addition, Pam's actions could be interpreted as going to the effort of finding an important yet unfilled position that she could do, rather than sticking to a job in which she'll be contributing nothing to the company, something that Ryan never even attempted.

Michael keeps insisting on bringing in Ryan back, so it's his own fault for setting that up in the first place.

Hot Librarian: Kevin seems to have a fetish for these, considering how his noted that all of his previous girlfriends had glasses, and when Pam wears glasses to work once, he tries to get her to recite cliche librarian phrases to him.

Hypocrisy Nod: When Nellie shows up in Scranton following the failure of the Sabre retail store, Dwight (who was her Number Two in setting up the store) has this to say about her:

Dwight: She reeks of failure. The fact that she's even willing to show her face around here is an embarrassment. I should know: I'm in an identical situation.

Hypocrite: Angela openly mocks the other female employees for being "too whoreish" and such, but she has affairs with Dwight and Andy (at the same time!).

And in one episode, she implies that this wasn't even the first time she's pulled this.

Dwight is irritated when Jim dresses like Dwight and imitates him mockingly in one episode, he also tells Jim that "Identity theft is not a joke." In a later episode Dwight pretends to be Andy in order to annoy him, similar to what Jim did to him earlier.

Hypocritical Humor: During "Niagra", Dwight talks with a group of kids about how he believes Jim only got the co-manager position due to "kissing the boss-man's butt". Kind of a dubious argument for Dwight to be making, considering his being a Professional Butt-Kisser to Michael is one of the strongest aspects of his character.

In "Paper Airplanes", Andy tells Oscar that he will use his breakup with the Senator as inspiration for sad scenes, which causes Oscar to ask why Andy doesn't use his own breakup with Erin as inspiration. Andy then criticizes Oscar for bringing up such a painful memory.

Idiot Ball: Jim picks up the idiot ball when he becomes a manager, ultimately culminating with him outing Pam's pregnancy to her overly-traditional grandmother.

Being a manager or higher-up at DM in general seems to make someone an easier target for having the idiot ball lobbed at them.

Idiot Houdini: Michael has incredibly poor judgment, even considering his skill as a salesman, it's surprising he's as successful as he is.

Michael also provides a literal example when he tries the straightjacket escape trick.

Michael: (in talking heads, still in straightjacket and hair is a mess) On a related topic, if anyone has found a small brass key...

Idiot Savant: Michael is shown to be an extremely talented salesman, which is odd given his utter lack of social skills in all other situations. His existence as an office manager is a critique of how offices will always promote someone one level above their best level of competency.

I Have This Friend: An unusually happy Angela tells Pam about "this friend" Noelle, who forgot to send in important documents, and her friend ("Kurt") drove all the way to New York to hand them in for her. Pam sees right through it, of course, having seen Dwight come back from what looked like a long drive a little earlier.

Dwight tells Nellie about "his cousin Mose" who might need medication for anxiety since he's getting a lot of responsabilities, incluiding taking care of his cousin Mose he immediately clarifies that this last one is a different cousin Mose

I'm Standing Right Here: In "Michael Scott Paper Company", when Michael's own company isn't running very well, Michael complains about Pam and Ryan on the phone... while they're all sharing the same "office" (it's actually a large closet).

Michael: They're getting on my nerves, mom. Both of them. R thinks he's too good to be here and P is not as much fun without Jim. Pam: Michael, we can hear you. Michael: I'm on the phone, please. Michael: Mom, I'm gonna have to call you back. P is being a giant B.

Incompetence, Inc.: The Dunder Mifflin Paper Company is kept from failing mostly through the competence of Jim and Dwight, and that people stop fooling around each time the branch's incompetence comes under scrutiny (the ones who can't shape up usually get fired).

The Informant: Andy is this is when it is revealed in "Whistleblower" that he is the one who leaked to the press that the Sabre printers Dunder-Mifflin are selling are prone to catching on fire. He becomes the office pariah afterwards. Which kind of sucks, considering that there were three other whistleblowers in the office as well.

Informed Ability: Despite Michael being a very poor manager, and the office staff slacking off constantly the Scranton Branch is the most successful branch. Even David Wallace and other leadership is baffled by this.

Also Dwight Schrute is hailed as their number one salesman and apparently has the numbers to back it up, early in the show he wins an award. Yet whenever we see him at a meeting or over the phone, his usual abrasive and arrogant nature persists and drive away the sale. This is especially obvious in the episode where he quits and goes to work for Staples. He immediately breaks records by selling two printers in his first day (off screen) but when we see him, he's chasing off a customer by insulting their printer paper choice. In contrast Michael, likewise touted as an excellent salesman, has been repeatedly shown winning over customers on-screen.

Ultimately, it probably comes down to the makers of the documentary obeying the Rule of Funny. Dwight's persistence likely gets him plenty of sales, but why waste time showing those (the exception being when it becomes especially ridiculous, like when he forces Andy to sell him his car by repeatedly counting down to zero and saying "NOW!" over and over. This likely doesn't work on anyone but Andy)? He's often shown talking normally to clients over the phone (usually right before Jim interrupts him with a prank), but when he goes too far, that's when they put it in the episode.

The UK show's idiots had to actually be good at their jobs for the transition to a US audience to work; it's a fair bit easier to get fired in America. However, Dwight is just a freak...basically They Just Didn't Care.

Well it may be that Dwight makes up for chasing off customers with an equal amount of scary "I will skin you alive if you don't buy from me" looks he gives other ones.

It's also worth noting that in many cases where Dwight is apparently being rude to a customer, he is distressed by something else that is going on.

Certain sales prospects actually respond favorably to an aggressive sales pitch; some people apparently need to be bullied into making a decision. Dwight also has some clever tricks, such as calling up the company's biggest competitor and letting the "on hold music" play throughout a sales presentation, to prove that Dunder Mifflin has better customer service.

There's also the simple fact that Dwight is ridiculously dedicated.

When Jim helps Dwight get over Angela announcing her engagement to Andy, we see regular dedicated Dwight get back on the phone and make a sales call where he is courteous, efficient and clearly this is the Dwight we don't normally see that gets the highest Dunder-Mifflin sales numbers year after year.

In-Series Nickname: Michael gives random nicknames to most people in the office: A common one is him calling Stanley: "Stanley the Manly."

Jim is called "Big Tuna", "Large Tuna", or just "Tuna" by Andy. This is because on Jim's first day at Stamford, he was eating a tuna fish sandwich.

Ryan is called "Temp" or "The Temp" early in the series, he is also often known as "The Fire Guy" ever since "The Fire".

Dwight's "Assistant Regional Manager" and Pam and Jim's correction of "Assistant to the Regional Manager" which is the correct, if unofficial, title.

Dwight's position at his karate dojo:

Dwight: A Sempai is the assistant Sensei.

Jim: Assistant to the Sensei.

Oscar would like to remind you that Robert Lipton is, in fact, a State Senator.

Inhuman Resources: Michael thinks that Toby is this. In fact, Toby is just a bored and boring man who half-heartedly tries to reign Michael's excesses in, which makes him evil in Michael's eyes. Michael's reaction when Toby is re-assigned to the Scranton Branch (over Michael's Love Interest) is an exemplar of this:

Judging from a remark during Jim's interview, David Wallace apparently has the same relationship with Corporate's HR officer Kendel that Michael has with Toby.

Jim's wedding proposal is done in the rain at a gas station after he and Pam drive to meet each other midway between Scranton and New York. It is soundless. Dwight's wedding proposal is done on a sunny day when he tries to pull Angela over using his volunteer Sheriff's siren and ultimately runs her off the road. He then proposes to her with a bullhorn.

Explicit? Indecent? Erotic? Or commentary about the way in which women are treated in the workplace? Here's a woman, hard at work, pulled herself up by the bootstraps despite her ethnic heritage, but all you see is that she's topless. It's sad, but the saddest part is that the woman was willing to pose for this photograph without a single question as to the artist's intent. What happened to integrity?

Also comes up in one of the deleted scenes from the episode "Goodbye Michael" when Michael catches one of his employees with some erotic drawings:

I Want My Beloved to Be Happy: Averted with Ryan: "Maybe we weren't right together, but...it's weird. I'd rather she(Kelly) be alone than with somebody. Is that love?"

Jim really tries to be happy for Pam and Roy, but seeing how Roy treats Pam (with disinterest, mostly) isn't making it easy for him. Still, aside from a few times when he almost tells Pam what he really thinks of Roy, he does his best to be happy for her.

Reversed in season 3, in which Pam even gives advice to Jim that helps him and Karen get over their first big fight. It isn't easy for her, but she's simply too much of a friend to give Jim bad advice and undermine his relationship with Karen, no matter how much she wants to.

After Erin proves incapable of breaking up with Andy, Pete has this reaction, which is what gives her the courage to go through with the break up and choose him instead.

I Was Beaten by a Girl: Andy, by a little girl no less in "Test The Store". He attempts to obscure the detail about his black eye...until the mother comes by forcing her daughter to apologize. He later gets another black eye after Kelly accidentally punches him. Toby is sympathetic, heavily implying he was abused by his ex wife.

Ivy League for Everyone: Averted. Andy went to Cornell, but it was because his dad is filthy rich and made a donation to the university. Ryan appears to have gone to Dartmouth, but the rest of the cast doesn't really seem the Ivy League type; Michael is specifically mentioned as not having gone to college at all.

The ironic praise of Cornell within the show is probably born of the Ivy league grads working on the show; developer of the American version of the show, Greg Daniels, is a Harvard grad, as is B.J. Novak (writer and actor). Actor John Krasinski (Brown alum), writer/actress Mindy Kaling (Dartmouth), and actress Ellie Kemper (Princeton) also play less elite characters.

The Jack Benny Show: While demonstrating his wooden train whistle to one of the young visitors, Michael references the show.

Michael: Train leaving on track five for Anaheim, Azusa, and Cuc...camonga!

Jerk Ass: A lot of people at various times, but especially Dwight, Angela, Ryan (season 4 onwards) and, less consistently, Michael.

Todd Packer does not have a single redeeming characteristic.

Jerkass Has a Point: Dwight's fire drill. While extremely dangerous and causes Stanley to have a heart attack, it does show the office is terrifyingly unprepared for a fire. To start, everyone panics for several minutes when they believed the building was on fire and not once does anyone think to phone for help or even activate the fire alarm.

Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Andy, who was initially introduced as a overconfident sycophant with rage issues has evolved into one of these. He's still largely clueless but seems like a nice enough guy.

Jim as well. Most of his pranks on Dwight are genuinely mean-spirited, but most would agree he's a nice guy.

Lampshaded in one episode where several of said pranks are mentioned in quick succession; Jim himself notes that they don't sound nearly as funny that way.

While Jim is pretty horrible to Dwight in a lot of small, petty ways, he does seem to have a sense (more so in later seasons) for when he's going too far, and is probably the most likely person (apart from Pam) to actively try to cheer Dwight up when he's truly upset. In fact (and here's a depressing thought), it seems like he and Pam are probably the closest things Dwight has to friends in the office. (Not counting Michael, who is just as likely to stab Dwight in the back as try to help him).

A talking head in "Nepotism" indicates that Jim and Pam's pranks are at least in part to keep Dwight's ego from going out of control, so there is that.

Dwight fits this now as well. Though his compassion isn't seen by any characters (just the audience), its effects are obvious.

When Pam is at the hospital giving birth, Dwight comes by her house to look for Pam's iPod at her request. He notices mold under the kitchen sink and spends the next few days rebuilding the entire kitchen of his own initiative.

When Pam starts bluffing about moving the office to a different building to get him to undo the awful changes he's made to the building, Dwight finds out and counterattacks, in the end he lets her win after (Unbenknownst to her) he listens to her breaking down to Jim about being a failure.

Michael goes back and forth between this and regular ol' Jerk Ass depending on the episode or the season. Much more likely to be a complete Jerk Ass in earlier episodes. He seems even worse during the co-managers period and early Sabre buyout.

Roy was a Jerk Jock for the first two seasons but showed a softer side throughout season three when he tries to get back with Pam and even apologizes for trying to beat up Jim when he learned he kissed her.

Karma Houdini: It's the only possible explanation for why Michael has never been fired (or arrested); although he is known to be an extremely good salesman (and in one episode, it's alluded to that he was in fact one of the most successful salesmen in the company's history), his management skills are... inferior.

Nearly averted (sort of): One early-season episode specified Scranton as bottom of the heap in sales for the branches that Jan oversaw. The Scranton branch was going to get closed and Michael was going to get laid off ("Branch Closing"). It was only after Josh, the Stamford manager, took a job at Staples that Scranton absorbed Stamford. And after all that went down Scranton had absorbed Stamford's clients while keeping only two employees (Karen and Andy).

After Karen takes a manager job in another branch, this leaves only Andy as the extra salary, trading for Devin's QA job (fired in the first Halloween episode) to re balance the exact payroll of the first season staff while having the client base of two branches. Maybe David Wallace should have just looked at those numbers rather than ask Michael to New York to explain how he does it.

However, when David Wallace is meeting with Michael about his high sales numbers, he takes a moment to specifically congratulate Michael on not losing any clients over the course of the two mergers. Wallace has not been portrayed as an idiot, so one would think that if it was just that simple, he would've connected those two dots himself.

Justified by the fifth season, when it's revealed that the Scranton branch of Dunder Mifflin is, in fact, the most successful regional branch in the company much to the utter confusion of corporate.

Michael sexually and verbally harasses his employees (and refuses to stop, usually targeting Ryan, Pam, Oscar, Karen, Phyllis, Angela, and Stanley via the photo of his daughter) and put them in physical danger, and almost never actually works. During a game of "Who'd You Do?", he stated that "I would have sex with Ryan" because he was so good at business. He had sex with Holly on company property after work hours and forgot to lock the doors, allowing thieves to steal most of everyone's work property. He has kidnapped a pizza delivery boy, knocked a ladder out from under another employee, causing him serious injury, forced a kiss on a gay employee when trying to convince the rest of the office to be accepting, he emailed a sexually explicit photo of his superior to everyone in the local branch(albeit accidentally, he meant only to send it to his buddy, Todd) , and attempted to get Toby sent to prison. He seems to wreck Stanley's car numerous times for unknown reasons. And all that was BEFORE he lost new business leads that Sabre (which is a much more serious and successful company than Dunder Mifflin) spent $50,000 on in a failed attempt to get his sales staff to stop acting up, with no later reference to it from corporate. Is a complete douchebag to everyone in the office (except Erin), especially Toby.

Michael and Dwight both did things which absolutely would have gotten them terminated immediately during "Stress Relief" - legitimately threatening Stanley's life. David Wallace mentions that they're "not going to just let this one slide" - and then requires Dwight to 'formally apologize,' and the whole thing is promptly forgotten.

Dwight has, among other things: caused another employee to have a heart attack with his "fire drill" (using arson as a learning tool), had a duel with another employee during work hours, cut the face off of a CPR dummy (which had to be replaced by the company, costing them thousands), repeatedly abandoned fellow employees at remote locations under false pretenses, and fired a gun in the office injuring Andy (burst ear drum). He keeps all kinds of other weapons in the office (which turned out to be useful, when he stopped Roy from attacking Jim). He looked at gay porn on his computer for "research". He made Holly think that Kevin was mentally disabled, and made Erin think that the office was haunted by the ghost of a 19th Century prostitute. He talked to Toby's 5-year old daughter about Nazi's. He brought a porcupine into the office in an attempt to set Jim up to get fired. He shot Jim repeatedly with paintballs. He locked Meredith in a closet with a rabid bat. He locked Ryan in a barn, with nobody but himself and Mose. He frequently has sex with Angela in the office. He tried to ban women from wearing pants in the office. He takes pride in verbally abusing his coworkers. He would definitely be fired if he wasn't the top salesman at the company.

Jim and Pam spend the vast majority of their work day flirting (and the crap-load of unprofessional PDA they engage in) or pranking Dwight (often in extremely disruptive ways). Jim, along with Dwight, created a fake salesman in order to get around Sabre's commission cap. He also faked being called to jury duty for a entire week.

Although they probably only do this in the first place because they know their workplace isn't exactly a "professional" one and doing well in a place like that isn't exactly going to get them anywhere career-wise. They probably just do it for kicks since it's all they've really got, and if they were working in a more normal work environment, they'd be much more professional and serious about it.

Some of the pranks however, go straight into the realm of bad taste at times and are generally not the kinds of things most decent people would do for a laugh, such as planning a prank that results in Dwight destroying his cell phone on Christmas, having him seal himself in a box planning to leave him there for who knows how long, and stealing his personal possessions to put them in a vending machine for his co-workers to buy.

Pam lied her way into a Office Administrator job (and tried to claim back pay) because she wasn't a good salesman. She allowed another employee to blackmail her into giving that same employee more vacation days. She also brought lice into the office (albeit by accident) and put the blame on another coworker.

Kelly at one point faked negative customer reviews (which affect the bonuses of other employees) as revenge against Jim and Dwight for not attending one of her parties.

Stanley has repeatedly and openly chewed out his own boss (though at times fairly reasonably), does crosswords on company time, and destroys parts of Michael's car with a crowbar.

Toby makes little to no attempt to actually control the constant disruptions in the office.

Actually, "Conflict Resolution" makes it clear that the conflicts in the office would be far worse if it weren't for Toby. Obviously he has to pick his battles to some extent, and a disruption in the office that is quickly dealt with by HR wouldn't exactly make for an exciting episode, would it?

Creed makes no attempt to do his job at all, to the point of needing to frame another employee when an obscene watermark makes it through his quality control responsibilities. In fact, half the time he can't even remember what his job title is. Subverted in the series finale, where he's arrested on numerous charges, then played straight when he escapes from police custody.

Meredith is frequently drunk at the office. She sexually harasses Michael and others in the office on a frequent basis. In addition, her casual Friday outfit gave a new meaning to the word nasty (an undersized tube top and shoes, nothing else).

Ryan has never made a sale and rarely seems to work. (And that was after he nearly burned the building down and before he defrauded the company.) He also sexually harasses Karen, Pam, and Erin.

Andy is a terrible salesman who hit Dwight with his car and punched a hole in the building's wall. (Though he did go to anger management for punching the wall, and has made several efforts to improve his sales abilities, even succeeding on a few occasions.) He also destroyed his work computer in order to get a better one.

Angela has shown a pattern of extremely disrespectful behavior to the other women in the office, calling them 'hussies' and 'whores,' and has had sex on office property during work hours. Also a total homophobe, ironic as her husband is a closeted homosexual.

Phyllis has blackmailed a fellow employee.

Gabe's treatment of both Erin and Andy during their love triangle (assaulting Andy and attempting to deny him a promotion for being interested in Erin, making harassing phone calls to Erin) qualifies him as a sexual harasser.

Kevin isn't as bad off as the rest but it's been suggested he's really not that great an accountant. Also, he makes sexual remarks to/about his co-workers even after attending a seminar on sexual harassment. It also doesn't help that he looks at porn during work hours on office computers. And commits insider trading (and somehow never gets caught). He applied for a warehouse position, but Michael "saw potential" in him, and put him in accounting. Averted in the finale where he gets fired for his incompetence

Oscar, while normally a very good employee, destroyed the window of someone's car (in order to free a dog) and casually walked away.

That leaves Darryl and Erin as the only Dunder Mifflin employees who would conceivably be employed in the real world.

Didn't Dwight get enough evidence to at least get Darryl in hot water with the act of defrauding the company medical insurance plan by pretending his injury was work-related when in fact the warehouse staff were using the mechanical lift as an elevator against company safety procedures?

Ironically Roy might have been the most competent of them all, since his being fired made Darryl request a raise to compensate for all the extra work he has to pick up in his absence.

Actually, it was stated that Darryl had already been trying to get a raise, and was using Roy's firing as extra leverage.

Kavorka Man: Dwight, who manages a one night stand with one of Pam's friends at her and Jim's wedding and handles it with a level of expertise that suggests experience in the field and when Pam's friend approaches Dwight at the wedding, he's doing well while chatting with another girl. He also appears on the verge of picking up at least one girl in a club in NYC, but he abruptly runs off to help Michael without a second thought. He also brings a woman to Michael's dinner party, when Jim learns that she was his babysitter, Dwight cuts them off with:

Then again, it was only after that episode that he started dating Angela and becoming more successful so perhaps Toby's lecture helped him out more than we realize.

Todd Packer. However, since all the information we have about his conquests come from Michael or himself, it might be an Informed Ability.

Or possibly he just made it all up. There is no evidence to support any of it, and his seduction technique when shown onscreen is less than stellar.

Kick the Dog: Jim's getting a few of late, like trying to give bonuses to the sales department without considering that it looks like a transparent attempt to reward his wife, or moving specifically to allow Michael to fall into a fish pond.

Pam's getting in on these now: Mocking how the senator proposed to Angela; Manipulating Dwight, claiming they've been great friends when she knows that's not true, so that he can take care of her daughter for a night, so she (Pam) could sleep; Lying her way into a nonexistent job where she created her own higher salary because she couldn't cut it as a salesman.

As for Dwight, they may not be great friends, but considering such times as Dwight's breakup with Angela and when Dwight almost takes over the office in "The Job", she probably cares about and respects him more than just about anyone else in the Office. And Angela, can you really blame Pam considering how Angela regularly treats her?

Dwight and Angela tend to qualify as Jerkasses more often than not(especially to Pam), and so don't really qualify as "dogs" by this trope's definition. Those two examples, if anything, fall closer to Kick the Son of a Bitch.

Andy in "The Garden Party." He threw the aforementioned party to get a So Proud of You from his father, and is instead belittled by him and just about everybody else.

Inverted (arguably) with Michael's excuse of "trapped in an oil painting".

Pam: I'm gonna save that one.

"I was never given a name."

Lampshaded Double Entendre: Aside from a majority of Michael's dialogue, at the "Charity" Auction, where employees offer up a particular skill, the card with Creed's contribution just says... Creed.

Creed: That's all inclusive.

Lampshade Hanging / Medium Awareness: Well, of course, given that this is supposed to be a documentary. But, apart from the omnipresent "character talking head" moments, we occasionally get subtler instances of this. One of the more notable examples: Prior to getting on the plane in his last episode, Michael asks the unseen videographers, "Hey, will you guys let me know if this ever airs?"

(removing a microphone pack from under his jacket) "It's gonna feel so good getting this thing off my chest." (inaudibly mouthing to the camera) "That's What She Said."

Earlier in the "Goodbye, Michael" episode, a jealous Gabe confronts Andy in the restroom and threatens to make him regret it if he goes near Erin. After Gabe leaves, Jim exits one of the stalls, having apparently heard everything. Cut to a talking head segment with Jim where we expect to hear his opinion on the Gabe/Andy thing. Instead, Jim asks if they're really filming people in the bathroom now.

Large Ham Title: "Bob Vance, Vance Refrigeration" (who even has the second part used at his wedding).

Living Prop: A number of the minor characters in the early episodes, especially the pilot, before they were really fleshed out. Most of the background cast from the different branches and the warehouse still qualify.

Some characters kept appearing in the background until well into season 3. Luanne (first by the fans believed to be the Marjorie mentioned in season's 2 "The Fire") is such an example. Word of God says it was to add realism to the series, by having employees that the audience knew nothing about, but it became harder to explain their presence as the series progressed and thus they were eventually written out completely.

Dwight: Jim is my enemy. But it turns out that Jim is also his own worst enemy. And the enemy of my enemy is my friend. So Jim...is actually my friend. ...But. Because he is his own worst enemy, the enemy of my friend is my enemy, so actually Jim is my enemy... But.

Logical Fallacies/Insane Troll Logic: After Meredith is hospitalized (Michael hit her with his car), Angela's cat dies (Dwight murdered it because it was "weak"), and Pam's computer crashes (she was downloading porn), Michael comes to the honest conclusion that Toby is Satan, and has placed a curse upon The Office.

It's pretty safe to say that 90-99% of Michael's thought process falls under this trope.

Jim: I've been studying Michael for years and I've condensed what I've learned into this chart. (holds up pie chart) "How Michael Spends His Time." You can see we have "procrastinating," and "distracting others," and this tiny sliver here, (points to a pencil thick line) is "critical thinking." I made it bigger. So that you could see it.

Michael's favorite hare-brained schemes involve visiting people unannounced and at bad times. He usually explains his absurd reasons why.

We got hints that Darryl got a bit of this after being moved from the warehouse to the office.

This was also Jan's problem early on, leading her to finally settle for Michael.

Michael seems to suffer from this a bit, making him even more desperate to be friends with his employees.

Ed Truck tells Michael that this is to be expected, because he will always be seen as a manager first by his employees. Michael could have prevented a lot of suffering to himself and the office if he'd listened.

Longing Look: Jim and Pam's main mode of communication during the first few seasons, especially season 3. It gets to the point where they subconsciously do this even when the other isn't around.

Loud of War: Jim steals Karen's desk chair because his squeaks. So Karen (not realizing who she's dealing with) tries to get back at him by squeaking the chair. He sings the chorus for "Lovefool" by The Cardigans repeatedly to get it stuck in her head. She's begging him to stop in seconds.

Meaningful Echo: Michael gets fired from Dunder-Mifflin for trying to found the Michael Scott Paper Company under their nose. When he tries to give one last speech, Charles cuts him off with "No, no. You're done." When Michael forces Dunder-Mifflin's hand to get re-hired, Charles tries to give one last speech and Michael cuts him off with the same phrase.

Meet Cute: Invoked (and namecalled) by Kelly with Deangelo, dropping a folder and "letting" him pick it up for her. And then walking off without the folder.

Meganekko: Erin, when Dwight has her wear glasses and pretend to be a hipster to get a line started at the first Sabre store in Tallahassee.

Also Pam when she forgets her contact lenses and has to wear her glasses to work.

Men Are Uncultured: Played straight by the ones who like sports, Jim (his short-lived Finer Things membership), Roy (his comments at the art gallery, though he did try), and Kevin (he takes the life-size picture of Jan because he "[does]n't have a lot of art.") Subverted by Toby and Oscar in the Finer Things club, and Oscar and Gil at Pam's art exhibit. Andy also subverts it (knowledgeably critiquing an opera among other instances), presumably because of his upbringing. Gabe appears to be something of a Movie Buff, albeit with a decided preference for horror flicks.

Oscar: Besides having sex with men, I would say that the Finer Things Club is the gayest thing about me.

Metaphorgotten: Michael does this all the time. For example: "What happens to a company if somebody takes a boss away? It's like what happens to a chicken when you take its head away. It dies... unless you find a new head. I need to see which one of these people have the skills to be a chicken head."

"Business is like a jungle. And I am like a tiger, and Dwight is like a monkey that stabs the tiger in the back with a stick. Does the tiger fire the monkey? Does the tiger transfer the monkey to another branch? ...Pun! There is no way of knowing what goes on inside the tiger's head. We don't have the technology."

"So Ryan got promoted to corporate, where he is a little fish in a big pond. Whereas back here in Scranton, I am still top dog in a fairly large pond. So who is the real boss? The dog or a fish?"

"At first, we were talking about introducing a line of toilet paper. And what part of the human body does one use toilet paper upon? So you draw a line from there to the other planets, and I think by the end, we learned a little bit about how small we are."

My Own Private "I Do": Jim and Pam, of the 'Plan First, Then Elope' variety, coupled with a Married at Sea. A more spur-of-the-moment elopement was subverted earlier on when they decided to stay for an impromptu office party instead.

Mythology Gag: In "Whistleblower", we learn that Dunder Mifflin's address is 1725 Slough Avenue. The fictional Scranton street is a nod to the UK show's setting of Slough, England.

Ricky Gervais' cameos as David Brent in "The Seminar" and "Search Committee".

In "Dwight Shrute, Acting Manager," Dwight begins wearing a six-shooter in a hip holster. Phyllis suggests that he carry his cell phone in it instead. Dwight's spiritual predecessor, Gareth, carried his cell phone in a shoulder holster.

An ad for the in-universe documentary reveals that it's titled The Office: An American Workplace. The full title is what the series is called in the United Kingdom to avoid confusion with the original show.

In "Michael's Last Dundees," Michael describes the Dundees as like "the Golden Globes, only not as mean." Ricky Gervais had hosted the Golden Globes that year and was criticized for some jokes at some of the nominees' expense.

Dwight: My grandpa Manheim is 103, and still puttering around in Argentina. I tried to go visit him once, but my travel visa was protested by the Shoah Foundation.

Dwight: My maternal grandfather was the toughest guy I ever knew. World War Two veteran, killed twenty men and spent the rest of the war in an Allied prison camp.

Nepotism: In the episode of the same name (season seven premiere), the new office assistant is shown to be too apathetic to do any work right, and it turns out he was hired because he was Michael's nephew whom he was trying to reconnect with. But the rest of the office can't stand him, which eventually leads to Michael reaching his breaking point and abruptly spanking him, at which point he leaves.

Nerds Speak Klingon: In "Andy's Ancestry", When Erin starts learning a language to impress Andy's family, Dwight convinces her to stop learning French and start learning Dothraki under his tutelage. She doesn't realise that it is a Con Lang and is dejected when Andy tells her that she was doing something he considers so nerdy. Pete gives her a Dothraki farewell at the end, another hint of his crush on her.

Erin: I'm learning how to speak Dothraki! Color you impressed? Andy: That you’re learning a made-up language from HBO’s Game of Thrones? I have a lot going on today...but this was a great nerd-out! Erin: Dwight, you didn't tell me you were teaching me a fake language. Dwight: People laughed at Klingon at first, and now you can major in it.

No Bisexuals: The instant the members of the office find evidence that Angela's senator boyfriend is attracted to men, they conclude that he's purely gay and his relationship with Angela is a sham. The possibility of bisexuality is never even mentioned.

Angela later stated that the Senator "cried" before having sex on their honeymoon, and was grossed out by Angela's increasing breast size while she was pregnant, so it seems as if the Senator is not bi.

Of course, both of the above examples didn't occur until long after it was "established" that the senator was gay, meaning that there was still a fair length of time in which the Senator was just assumed to be purely gay because of his attraction to men, despite no significant indication as whether he genuinely was or was not attracted to Angela.

Noodle Incident: In the Christmas episode, Jim intends to give Pam a teapot filled with several mementos linked to inside jokes the two of them share. After explaining the stories for a couple of the items, Jim pulls out an unsharpened pencil, and simply states that "'it would take too long to explain."

This, of all things, gets explained eight seasons later in the penultimate episode "A.A.R.M." It was apparently the exact same pencil that she had thrown at Jim during a minigolf outing years earlier.

No Good Deed Goes Unpunished: Pam occasionally takes pity on Michael and reaches out to him as a friend. He invariably repays her by doing or saying something characteristically inappropriate, and sometimes getting the both of them into trouble.

Pam is constantly on the receiving end of this. On many occasions, she makes an attempt to do something nice or otherwise helpful for the office, only for it to be either ignored, taken as an opportunity to mock her, or thrown back in her face.

No Such Thing as H.R.: Technically there is in the form of Toby and Holly, but in keeping with the theme of the show, they're pretty useless at resolving the office hijinks.

It's suggested in one episode that Toby is actually good at keeping the internal office conflicts to a dull roar. Unfortunately when Michael finds this out he decides they need to be fixed HIS way, which ends up making many of them worse.

Not So Different: Jim realizes this after Phyllis accidentally called him Michael. Whenever Jim is in charge of the office, he tries to do the opposite of what Michael does in order to make the office more enjoyable even though it doesn't go well at all. Improving the work environment was what Michael has been trying to do ever since he was manager.

Further reinforced in the following conversation, at the end of the same day Phyllis called him Michael:

Michael: So, what'd I miss? Jim: Well, I tried to put all the birthdays together at once. Terrible idea. Michael:(*nods in understanding*) Yeah, okay, I did that. Rookie mistake. Jim: You did do it? Michael: Uh-huh, yeah. Just wait. Ten years—you'll figure it out. Jim: Well, I don't think I'll be here in ten years, but... Michael: That's what I said.

Not That There's Anything Wrong with That: Roy when he talks with Pam after his outburst. He says that he thought Pam and Jim were Just Friends and that Jim might be gay or something. He then remembers that he's on camera and quickly adds "Not that that's wrong..."

Ryan's job is extremely unclear once the Michael Scott Paper Company is absorbed by Dunder Mifflin. He is hired as a salesman but is demoted in favor of Pam.

Oblivious to His Own Description: One of the workers is flashed by a pervert. Pam is asked to draw up a description of the man in order to make wanted posters. Pam ends up drawing Dwight with a moustache and asks him to put the posters up. Dwight does so, even mentioning happily that he wants the "pervert" to be caught.

Oblivious to Love: Subverted. Although it was never explicitly stated until Jim and Pam's other relationships ended and they had to deal with the situation, Pam gave very subtle indications that she was aware of Jim's feelings, but didn't want to deal with the situation.

It's not clear if she's on to Toby, however.

Erin and Andy might count as this. They clearly know that there's an attraction between the two, but are both terrified that the feelings are one way, so neither one of them is willing to make a move.

Erin is also completely oblivious to her foster brother.

Odd Friendship: While in no way blind to his faults Pam has a definite soft spot for Michael that seems to go beyond the pity Jim feels for him (though pity is clearly a part of it). She followed him into the Michael Scott Paper Company and tried to set him up with a friend on two different occasions. They had a huge falling out when he began seeing her mother but Pam seems to have forgiven him.

Offstage Villainy: When Michael is shown pursuing and stealing DM clients, it is from Dwight and a reaction to Dwight not only betraying him (which Michael is willing to forgive), but then breaking his own truce he deceptively brokered with Michael. But in Broke and Casual Friday in particular, we find out that Michael had been stealing clients off camera from all the sales people, despite how far Dwight to go and the It's Personal nature before on-camera Michael started taking his clients.

Oh, Crap: Jim has some good ones, given his tendency to look into the camera frequently. Probably his best ones are when his pranks cause Andy to lose his temper.

Also when Jim is wearing the tuxedo and hears that Charles is visiting that day.

Kevin gets a moment when he talks with the identity theft department for Jim's credit card, while Jim's on his honeymoon.

And on Take Your Daughter to Work Day, where he talks to the camera about how he has to make sure none of the young girls see the porn on his computer, then realizes they could be doing that right now.

Vikram realising that joining the Michael Scott Paper Company was probably a mistake.

Vikram: What kind of name is Nana?

Pam: It means grandmother.

Vikram: Oh sweet Jesus.

You can see the tiniest glimmer of Oh, Crap in Stanley's eyes in Did I Stutter when Michael orders everyone but him out of the office (before Michael bursts into tears).

Jim realizing that he had to resolve the conflict between Dwight and Andy after they challenged each other to a duel over Angela.

Jim: (to the camera) I have two choices. I could get more involved. Or I could just take the afternoon off. Leaving Dwight in charge. Oh god.

At the end of "Goodbye, Michael" there was a rare moment where Jim & Dwight share this reaction, as Deangelo starts screaming at a cake.

Dwight: Uh-oh.

[Jim mournfully nods in agreement]

After Michael leaves, Jim turns down an offer at being Acting Manager. A minute later Dwight's phone rings and Dwight accepts the offer. Jim is speechless that he did not see that coming while Pam is much more vocal.

Pam: What have you done?!

During one of Pam's interviews when she realizes a concussion has made Dwight her friend.

At the end of "Valentine's Day", Michael has saved Jan's and his own job by defusing a situation that he started in the first place. Jan is nonetheless grateful and because it's Valentine's Day, she kisses Michael in what seems to be one moment of weakness. Michael stares at her, then looks at the camera crew. Jan follows his stare and turns around to face the camera with an absolutely horrified stare.

In a deleted scene from "Weight Loss," Ryan experiences a memorable one when he's the secretary & David Wallace calls, is shocked to learn Ryan returned to Scranton, & tears him a new one before talking to Michael about it.

One-Episode Wonder: The pilot for proposed Dwight Schrute spinoff The Farm, rejected by NBC, was re-worked into a 9th season episode of The Office appropriately titled "The Farm".

One Steve Limit: Averted and then exploited by Kelly the CSR. She has a crush on Charles, so she hangs out near his office in the hopes that he will call for Kelly the receptionist. She then runs in and says "Charles, you wanted me?" in the hopes that it will subliminally make it so.

Then played invoked by Charles when he decides to avert Kelly's aversion by calling the other Kelly by her middle name, Erin, which sticks well enough that it's hard to remember it's not actually her real first name.

Actually, Charles wanted to call them Kelly and Kapoor, but Erin requested the name change to her middle name. Apparently she always wanted to.

No longer the case as most of the other characters are built up and believable enough that the need for a sane man is all but gone. That the writers are still trying to make Jim seem like this (count how many times the camera zooms in on Jim giving his "look") actually makes him seem arrogant.

But if there is one, it's probably Darryl—he manages to maintain an observer status in most of the insane office hijinks.

Phyllis: Darryl's the coolest kid in school.

Stanley: It used to be Jim. It hasn't been Jim in a looong time.

Ryan, in the early seasons.

Toby, albeit an excessively hapless one.

Oscar and Pam also have this trait. Oscar once points out that with Jim and Pam gone, he feels that the crazies are out numbering him, and actually tries to convince Jim and Pam to cut their honeymoon short to support him.

On The Rebound: Invoked and lampshaded. After breaking up with Carol, Micheal hooks up with a young waitress from a Japanese restaurant and brings her to the Christmas party, only for her to leave an hour later. Jim explained to Michael that he was having a rebound and should not feel disappointed. Michael realizes that was what he was doing and even admits he couldn't tell his date apart from the other Asian waitress that had attended the party.

OOC Is Serious Business: Jim and Pam realize that Dwight's suffered a serious head injury when he starts acting nice to Pam.

Orphan's Ordeal: When Erin learned that Andy was once engaged to Angela, she gets upset and frustratingly covers her face with her hair.

Erin: In the foster home, my hair was my room.

Also in Paper Airplane:

Erin: Growing up in an orphanage, you have to fight other kids for everything. Snacks, pillows, parents... I once ripped Greedy Susan's pigtail right off her head, just for a handful of Crispix.

Although, to be fair, he didn't start panicking until she refused to go to the hospital even when her contractions were getting close together.

Parental Substitute: Michael learns Erin, an orphan, thinks of him as a father figure in "Viewing Party."

Le Parkour: Mocked in the season six premiere, when Andy, Dwight, and Michael "parkour" through the office. It's basically them jumping on furniture and kicking things over while shouting "parkour!"

Party Scheduling Gambit: In "A Benihana Christmas" Angela's overbearing unpleasantness as head of the Party Planning Committee lead Karen and Pam to form the Committee for Planning Parties and plan a more fun party.

The Password Is Always Swordfish: The server password bigboobz is figured out when Michael recalls that when the IT guy told it to him, Michael laughed, but Pam got upset.

Michael's computer password is revealed to be "password123," which the IT guy spots written on a post-it note stuck to his computer monitor.

At the end of "Gossip," one of the interns says that half of the office members use the password "password."

The Peter Principle: Michael is the living embodiment of this. He used to be a great salesman; because of this, he was promoted, and ended up in a position for which he's absolutely unqualified.

Pet the Dog: Michael and Dwight get these moments every now and then, in order to balance out their Jerkass personalities. And everyone in the office has had at least one, except for Creed.

Pie in the Face: In "Work Bus", Kevin tries to goad Oscar into doing this to him. Oscar realizes what he's doing, but indulges him anyway.

Pixellation: Used to hilarious effect in "Benjamin Franklin", when Michael visits a sex shop and everything in the background is pixellated.

Seen again in the cold opening of "Body Language". When Michael has trouble with the gender aspect of Spanish, he uses drawings of genitalia on Post-its to help, which are partly pixelated.

Pointy-Haired Boss: Ryan and Deangelo. Double subverted with Michael. He seems like this at first, but it's later made clear that he's not only a very good salesman, he's the best salesman in the company's history. It is then almost immediately made obvious that, despite his sales acumen, he is an absolutely terrible manager.

Poirot Speak: Michael adopts the ridiculous "How you say?" mannerisms when speaking English to an English-speaking Canadian.

The Pollyanna: Erin, the new receptionist. She actually seems to like working for Michael!

Pop-Cultural Osmosis: The production of the musical Sweeney Todd that Andy is in is clearly based more on the movie version than the actual stage versions. Though they get points for performing the opening ballad, which is not in the film version, and by having costumes that look more like the original stage version than the movie.

Pop-Cultural Osmosis Failure: Invoked intentionally by Jim when he's trying to goad Dwight in a non-work related discussion to prove that he does "steal time" from the company.

Positive Discrimination: Plenty of examples. Michael especially, when his trying too hard doesn't simply fail, it usually ends up here. For example, when Oscar was accidentally outed by him, he tried to prove he was comfortable with gay people by pulling up gay porn at work and kissing Oscar.

Darryll admitted that he was, at least in part, banking on this when he applied to the Regional Manager position after Michael left.

Michael does this a lot, though it's arguably justified in that it's completely in character for him to do so.

One episode has Kevin gushing over his shredder. The very first commercial of the next break was for the exact same shredder.

Dwight and Jim both play Second Life in one episode. Reasonably accurate game footage is shown.

"Dwight, do you want an Altoid?"

Jim sucks at Call of Duty.

Countchoculitis.

The 2005 Dundies Award Show is held at Chili's. Michael and Jan later take an important client there to work out a big sale.

Dwight abhors IHOP.

Michael burns his foot on a George Foreman grill.

Michael eats a Cup O'Noodles as he tries to get himself invited to Jim's party.

Michael wants Pam to rub Country Crock Spread on his foot.

Charles stays at "The Scranton Radisson" (which IRL would be the Radisson Lackawanna Station Hotel, Scranton)

This is also subverted: Staples and Office Depot are mentioned repeatedly, but they are the antagonists and ultimately drive Dunder-Mifflin under.

Utz potato chips and pretzle snacks can often be seen in the breakroom's vending machine. As Utz is a Lancover PA based company whose products are largly distributed in the NY/NJ/WV/Penn area, this is realistic for a Scranton PA workplace.

When Michael goes to New York, he likes to enjoy the authentic New York pizza at Sbarro.

Try to count all the close-ups on the back of their monitors to show the HP logo.

Every phone in their company is provided by Cisco, although the logo is only shown on close ups of the phones which are relatively rare.

"Break me off a piece of that Fancy Feast" (Plus everytime Andy recited the first part of the slogan the audience is reminded "Kit Kat").

An advertising standee of Keebler's mascot Ernie is decoration in Dwight's Day Care center.

Promoted to Love Interest: Ellie Kemper was originally signed on to do one or two episodes as Erin Hannon. However, as the popularity of her character increased, she was (thankfully) worked into the script as Andy's love interest.

Promoted to Scapegoat: A likely reason Michael was made regional manager; Jan gives him every single unpopular assignment possible, from deciding on layoff victims to slashing down healthcare benefits.

YMMV. These assignments would be pretty standard for anyone in his position in a failing company.

Though it would seem odd that benefit plans would be decided on a branch-by-branch basis, especially for a decision that would be more suited to HR such as health benefit plans. This one was given to Michael with the obvious intent of shielding Jan from being the bad guy.

Pursue the Dream Job: In the ninth season, Jim decides to become the co-founder of a new business in Philadelphia.

Also in the ninth season, Andy decides to quit his job and pursue his dream in the arts, including singing, acting, and dancing. He even defecates on David Wallace's car in effort to burn his bridges to make sure he'd have all the motivation to succeed.

The Bus Came Back (via new "old" footage) for all these characters except Charles in "Threat Level Midnight". (David Wallace's scenes are deleted.) We also take the bus to Utica to visit Karen in a couple Season 4 and 5 episodes.

As of the Season 8 premiere, Jo Bennett.

And, of course, season 7 sees Michael and Holly moving to Boulder, Colorado to get married and care for her aging parents.

Robert California finds a new job at the end of Season 8, so we won't be seeing him next season. Kelly won't be coming back since her actress, Mindy Kaling, has had Fox pick up a new series for her this fall, which is going to become her primary focus, not leaving her enough time for The Office.

BJ Novak also was reduced down to recurring, and put on a bus too.

Technically, the last time we saw him in the last season's premiere, he was still waiting for the bus.

Real Fake Wedding: Dwight gets a priest who only speaks German for Andy and Angela's wedding. He does a practice ceremony where he stands in for Andy, and makes the priest believe Dwight's the groom and it's a real ceremony. Angela does not accept it as a real marriage, however.

Real Life Writes the Plot: Jenna Fischer's real life pregnancy was written in during season eight. She was noticeably more pregnant than she was during Pam's first pregnancy.

In "Dwight K. Schrute, (Acting) Manager", Dwight brings a gun into the office and winds up accidentally discharging it. This winds up costing him any shot at the permanent position.

Nice foreshadowing here: When Dwight's revolver first appears in a display case on his desk, it's fully cocked. When he starts carrying it around the office in a holster, the hammer is still on full cock. Viewers who are familiar with revolvers can tell something bad is going to happen here.

The Reveal: The Scranton Strangler is the person originally convicted for the crime back in season 7. This reveal was so low-key that quite a few fans didn't notice it, even after the series had ended.

A short one towards the end of season 7 after Steve Carell's departure: the shot with Michael adjusting the Dundie on his desk was reshot using the regional manager of the week. As an additional bonus, in the latter two scenes, the characters mess the scene up: Creed puts the figurine backwards, and Andy makes the trinket fall off the desk.

The sumo wrestler figure that Creed adjusts is actually a small desk fan, and he is pointing it toward himself.

People thinking Jim says "dude" a lot and acts like a slacker and stoner.

Running With Scissors: Played with when Michael calls out Erin to "Scissor me!" and she throws him a pair blades first. Subverted because he doesn't cut himself on either catch and lampshaded by Pam's scared expression each time.

S-T

Sadistic Choice: In order to cover its ass after the altercation between Michael and his nephew which ended with Michael spanking him, Sabre claims that Michael had a "stress-induced outburst". Gabe tells him that he will need to attend counselling sessions. With Toby. Or lose his job. From the look on his face, Michael seems to be seriously considering the latter as the episode ends.

Safe Word: The fact that Jan pretended to "forget" what it was is the first sign that it's exploitive and that Michael should get out of his relationship with her.

Save Our Students: Michael tries and fails spectacularly to do this in Scott's Tots where he promised a class of mostly African-American eight year olds that in ten years he will pay their college tuitions. Of course when the ten year mark arrives Michael is in no way financially capable of fulfilling such a promise. He now has to disappoint the group of now high school seniors that it was all a pipe dream. Interestingly enough, he does wind up doing some good for them:

Erin: The principal told me that 90% of Scott's Tots are on track to graduate, and that's 35% higher than the rest of the school. So I think if you hadn't made that promise, a lot of them would've dropped out. Which is something to think about, I think.

Scary Black Man: Ryan is very intimidated by Daryl and the other warehouse workers. Even getting yelled at by Stanley (Kelly falsely told him that Ryan was hitting on his 13-year-old daughter) was enough to send him hiding, trembling with fear.

Charles is something of this to Jim when they work together, although it's largely due to the fact that Jim can't catch a break whenever they're in the same room together. He gets past this when he learns that Charles is a suck up.

Stanley's Game Face had the same effect on Jim during the inflatable sumo suit duel.

Jim: I've never seen anyone coming at me like that. I thought I might die. On beach day.

In "Christmas Wishes", Andy threatens to cancel Jim or Dwight's Christmas's bonus and give it to the other if one pranks the other. What follows is Jim and Dwight deliberately leaving themselves completely open to pranking to egg the other on (Dwight by leaving things like his wallet and keys at his desk and leaving his computer and e-mail accessible, Jim by openly advertising his credit card information with Dwight obviously in earshot).

In the garage sale episode, Jim tempts Dwight with a packet of magic beans. Dwight repeatedly scoffs at such obvious and poorly-disguised Schmuck Bait ... and still ends up trading Jim a $150 telescope for the beans.

In a credits gag, we see Dwight planting the beans in pots outside the office with Jim waiting for Dwight to leave to replace the pots with fully-grown plants in them.

Screw This, I'm Outta Here!: Stanley tends not to put up with the office's more ridiculous goings-on, and on a couple of occasions, just walks out when things start getting weird.

Done spectacularly by Jim in "Pool Party":

Jim: And there's my talking point. (proceeds to plow through the driveway)

Series Fauxnale: "Goodbye Michael", even though it isn't even the season finale, has all the hallmarks of a series finale and functions as such for some fans.

Secret Relationship: Dwight and Angela, Pam and Jim (for one episode), Andy and Erin (also for one episode).

Second-Hand Storytelling: Characters sometimes describe unseen events during interviews with the filmmakers, though their descriptions are often skewed. Used especially when characters refer to events predating the documentary filmmakers coming to Scranton.

Self-Deprecation: A meta example. Ryan and Kelly are two of the least sympathetic characters on the show, and both of the actors who play them are also staff writers.

Meredith has had both one and two children, and changed from an accountant to supplier relations rep. Similarly her birthday went from being about a month apart from everyone's in the spring in season 1 to being clumped in a group of fall ones in season 4.

Ping pong, to the players' significant others. A mini-training camp may have been involved...

Shipper on Deck: Apparently, the camera crew. Jim and Pam asked in the ninth season premiere why they still there, and the camera guy said they were interesting.

Pam acts as this in "Secret Santa" when she tries to get Oscar and Matt together.

Shout-Out: Two toward The Lonely Island: in one episode, Dwight and Michael make an instructional video—a cringe-inducing music video featuring a lyric rewrite of "Lazy Sunday." Another episode has Michael wear a dick-in-a-box.

Angela refuses to go to Kelly's Diwali celebration because she thinks the hosts will serve monkey brains.

Dwight compares meeting the warehouse workers with meeting The Others.

In "Grief Counseling" Michael asks the staff to tell stories about deceased loved ones. This leads to them telling stories based on scenes from Million Dollar Baby (Pam), The Lion King (Ryan), and Weekend at Bernie's (Kevin). note Michael fails to catch on to the trend until Kevin's story

Sommelier Speak: In the episode "Pool Party", Oscar mistakenly thinks Toby is a wine connoisseur. Toby tries to keep up the charade:

Oscar: What's compelling about this is the note of persimmon. Right?

Toby: Note? It's...a symphony.

Spinoff: In 2012 it was announced that a spinoff show set at Schrute Farms and centered around Dwight was being planned, complete with a Poorly Disguised Pilot episode on The Office itself. It was not picked up. Most of the the footage was repurposed into the season 9 episode "The Farm". It introduces Dwight's sister and brother.

Several years earlier, the show that eventually became Parks and Recreation was initially conceived as an Office spinoff.

Sure, Let's Go with That: When Dwight returns to working at the office and sees a party already in progress, he joyfully asks, "You did this for me?" Michael just decides to say yes, as the camera pans to the "Welcome Back Oscar" sign.

Jan: I tried calling, but I kept getting voice mail. Michael: Weird. Yeah, I didn't get both of your messages.

Take a Third Option: When Dwight was hiring a stripper for Bob Vance's bachelor party, he asks Jim which he prefers, brunette or redhead, while Karen and Pam are looking on. Jim wisely picks blonde.

Also in the episode "The Fire," when it's Jim's turn at "Who would you do", instead of picking Pam and risking revealing his feelings, or picking any other woman instead of Pam, Jim jokingly picks Kevin.

In "WUPHF.com", Michael picks a third option regarding Ryan's failing company that he and several other people in the office had invested in. Rather than blindly stand by Ryan, as he had initially planned to do, or immediately sell off the company, as everyone else wanted him to do, he gives Ryan a strict ultimatum to get the company back on track, or he'll sell the company then. Particularly impressive is the speech he gives detailing why he's doing it:

Michael: I'm not blind! I know exactly who he is. He is selfish, and lazy, and image obsessed, and he's a bad friend. He's also clever, and he aims very high, and he just might make it.

Take Our Word for It — Creed tells everyone to check out his blog, www.creedthoughts.gov.www\creedthoughts. The camera cuts to a talking head interview with Ryan:

Ryan: Last year, Creed asked me how to set up a blog... Wanting to protect the world from being exposed to Creed's brain, I opened up a Word document on his computer, and put an address at the top. I've read some of it... Even for the Internet, it's pretty shocking.

The Tape Knew You Would Say That: When Holly returns in season 7, Michael prepares two contingency kits to react on whether she's actually married or not. She has no wedding ring, so he breaks out the "Happy" kit and launches a pre-recorded message on his computer, resulting with Michael Talking to Himself as the recording acts as Only Sane Man to happy partying Michael.

Recorded Michael: I know you're happy right now, but you need to calm down. Is that music? Are you dancing?

Tempting Fate: In the episode "Sexual Harassment," Michael tells the office staff that he can no longer say "That's what she said". Jim responds with a barrage of comments deliberately made to invoke that phrase("Wow, that's really hard." "Can you really go all day long?", "Well, you always leave me satisfied and smiling."). Predictable results ensue.

Also, arguably lampshaded and subverted when Pam and Ryan are constantly reminding Michael not to reveal that the Michael Scott Company is going broke in front of David Wallace, and when they enter the elevator Michael is saying something along the lines of "There is no way I'm gonna say it!". Cue him leaving the elevator, moaning "Aww... I'm really worried I'm gonna say it!"

At the end of the meeting, he is forced to admit that the company is broke; the real value it has is his years of experience in the paper industry (and an unlimited supply of corporate names).

That's What She Said: Michael Scott is physically incapable of resisting an opportunity to use this joke. Even in the midst of a legal deposition.

Shortly after he first meets Holly, they have this exchange while riding a Ferris wheel together:

Holly: They kept hiring from the outside. It was easy to get in, but impossible to rise up. Michael: That's what she— (catches himself) Michael: A lot of places are like that.

It's spread to other members of the office now, too. For example, Pam excitedly contributes this over the phone — using a super small headset that her coworkers don't know about so she and Jim can be in touch all day.

It's even infected Jan to some degree as of "Cocktails", a prospect which horrifies her.

Michael tries learning how to say this trope in Spanish, only to find he's been saying "That's What He Said", much to his chagrin.

Dwight tries this in "Traveling Salesmen", only for Michael to angrily shoot it down.

Michael delivers a truly epic one in the finale.

Theme Music Power-Up: Dwight listens to Heavy Metal to psyche himself up for sales calls and performance reviews. The shots of him air guitaring and punching Jim's car seats are priceless.

He also does it during his interview montage after being forced to quit from Andy's frame-up and in the staircase before his performance review with Michael and Jan.

This Is No Time for Knitting: In "Traveling Salesmen", Jim and Dwight are on a sales call together. While Jim is talking to a prospective client, Dwight asks if he can use the phone and subsequently starts yelling numbers loudly into the phone. At first, this seems like Dwight's usual bizarre behavior, perhaps even more bizarre than usual. However, when the time comes for Jim to demonstrate Dunder Mifflin's phone customer service, we find out that Dwight has been demonstrating a rival company's phone customer service the whole time. Jim then proceeds to call Dunder Mifflin's customer service line, and has Kelly on the line within a couple seconds, thus successfully demonstrating the difference between a large impersonal company and a smaller company.

In the same episode, Phyllis and Karen's sales call. Phyllis takes them out to get incredibly gaudy makeovers... which just so happen to be pure Fetish Fuel for the specific client they were going to see. Successful sale.

This Is Reality: In their duel for Angela, Andy has Dwight pinned to the hedge, but he is refusing to yield.

Dwight: You can't protect her! I can!

Andy: PROTECT HER FROM WHAT, YOU IDIOT?! BEARS?!?!

Time Skip: The series finale takes place one year after the events of the previous episode.

Too Dumb to Live: Michael tried to eat unidentified mushrooms he found in the woods once. Also, it is unclear whether the bouncy castle was part of his scheme to convince his employees he was actually going to jump off the roof or if he actually thought that falling onto it would save his life.

Given the amount of testing he and Dwight did and that the castle was discovered by accident indicate the latter.

Took a Level in Jerkass: Ryan in Season four following his promotion. Also, most fans will agree the weaker episodes will elevate Michael from bumbling yet well-intentioned guy into this (the oft-cited episodes for this is usually "Phyllis' Wedding" and "The Double Date"). Also in Season 6, Dwight crosses here in his serious attempts to frame Jim for wrongdoing and get him fired; Ryan again joins this alliance.

Andy as well, and in his case it's somewhat cyclical. He seemed like a smarmy jerkass at first but over the next few seasons became more of a put-upon nice guy. Season nine, however, reveals him to be neglectful at best toward supposed true love Erin, pettily vengeful, and mostly a disaster as manager.

Tyrant Takes the Helm: When Dwight becomes acting manager he forces everyone to use an antiquated and dangerous punch clock, staggers their lunches so everyone eats alone, changes everyone's title to Junior Employee and has everyone enter a twenty one digit code everytime they use the photocopier. To reinforce the image he keeps a piranha in an acquarium in his office and gets a new desk that is modeled on one used by Saddam Hussein's son.

Prior to that, Dwight has repeatedly shown a fondness and/or lobbied for Draconian policies in the office and whenever given any power he instantly imposes them. Which begs the question of who thinks it is a good idea to give him any in the first place.

Deangelo Vickers shows a bit of this during his extremely brief managerial reign.

Michael (carrying a plate of steaks): Who wants some man meat! Dwight: I do! I want some man meat!

Ungrateful Bastard: Michael is repeatedly shown to be completely unappreciative to anyone who saves his ass. Specific examples include:

In season 5, Jim helps Michael get his job back after his independent paper company failed hard. The next episode has Michael expecting the entire office to apologize to him for not joining his company. Especially stupid, since they warned him it would be a terrible idea.

Intentionally screwing Jim (and unintentionally himself) out of a promotion and then begging him for forgiveness and aggreeing to become co-managers to make up for it. The next episode Michael reverts to a total jerk who viciously condescends to Jim and believes he never should have been made a manager

After a bankrupt Dunder Mifflin is bought by Sabre he shows his appreciation for saving his job by refusing to conform to any Sabre policies that differ from the previous ones, no matter how insignificant.

Unplanned Crossdressing: In one episode, someone tells Michael he's wearing a woman's suit. Michael denies it vehemently, but eventually admits that he bought the suit from a sale bin. Later — as he's complaining about his day — he says "Also, I accidentally crossdressed."

Noted in the pilot's DVD commentary, the in-universe documentary crew may look down on the office workers, judging by a shot of Pam blowing on the wet ink of a printed page while the audio from her interview explains her love of watercolor painting.

Andy and Erin. Late S5/Half of S6 and Late S6/Most of S7: Andy —> Erin. End of S7/S8: Erin —> Andy. S9: Andy —> Erin.

Unsympathetic Comedy Protagonist. Subverted on a few occasions where Michael is shown to have redeeming traits. He's actually pretty likeable compared to his UK counterpart (who himself is also eventually demonstrated to be a lot more sympathetic than first appearances might suggest).

Unwanted Harem: Charles immediately has Kelly and Angela competing for his affection.

Charles: I am aware of my effect on women.

Urine Trouble: When Pam's prank of rigging the elevator controls fails and both she and Dwight end up trapped, it takes Dwight all of ten seconds to kick into survival mode and pee in the corner.

Vomit Discretion Shot: In Niagra, Dwight eats hard boiled eggs at his desk, intentionally ignoring Pam's request for her coworkers to avoid introducing harsh smells around her because of her pregnancy. She defiantly throws up into a garbage can.

Vomit Indiscretion Shot: The same scene from the previous trope leads to a chain reaction of this from Andy, Meredith, Erin, and Angela.

Andy: Watching people get sick always makes me sick. And frankly, so does talking about it.

Wacky Marriage Proposal: Michael's speculative methods for proposing to Holly in the "Garage Sale" episode fit this category: pouring gasoline on the office parking lot in the shape of a heart and setting it afire, tossing "a corpse dressed like me" from the office roof and decapitating it so he can tell her, "I lost my head when I fell for you", etc.

Weirdness Coupon: See Karma Houdini above. The employees of the Scranton branch get a lot of leeway since they belong to the most successful branch, so they stay on in spite of some incredibly weird shenanigans.

We Want Our Jerk Back: Played with twice with Dwight. Subverted the first time; he gets a concussion and is a lot more pleasant to be around. When they realize what's up, they have to take him to the hospital, and it's clear that everyone (and especially Pam) will miss "nice Dwight" when he's gone. The second time, he quits, and things are a lot less smooth at the office without him, until Michael convinces him to come back.

And for Michael when is he is replaced by Charles Miner in season five. This is most clearly shown when Charles shows himself as intolerant of Kevin and Stanley's more laidback tendencies, and of him favoring Dwight rather than Jim.

Erin: Her sense of humor is a 2. Her ears are like a 7... and a 4. Add it all up and what do you get? 16. And he treats her like she's a perfect 40. It's nuts!

Asked of Andy by Oscar, regarding his courting of Angela.

What Happened to the Mouse?: In one season 6 episode, Erin accidentally destroyed Pam's watercolor painting of the building when she was trying to be helpful and clean it. This subplot was written out of the episode (though left in the description thereof) and the painting was back by the end of the season, despite having been replaced with a poster for some time.

What Have I Done: Dwight's reaction when he realizes that his machinations to take the Sabre affirmative action management program away from Daryl and claim it for himself actually placed it squarely in Kelly's hands instead... and she makes a veiled threat that she'll remember what he's done.

Pam's reaction when Jim turns down the Office Manager job, and the role is subsequently given to Dwight.

When You Snatch the Pebble: Amusing in that Dwight would apply such a teaching to sales in the first place, but also subverted - Ryan is easily able to take the seed from Dwight's hand.

"Where Are They Now?" Epilogue: The series finale serves as this, taking place a year after the previous episode. The reunion panel that occurs in the episode serves as one for the documentary.

Who's Laughing Now?: Dwight with Jim in the snowball fight. For the first time one of Jim's pranks backfires and in the rest of the episode Jim ends up being terrorized by Dwight in a series of surprise snowball attacks.

Wild Mass Guessing: Some fans have put a lot of effort into explaining exactly why a documentary crew had been filming the Scranton office for nine years, with no indication that the documentary ever airs (unlike the UK version). Theories include the documentary airing only in a far-away foreign country, or that it's an ongoing project assigned to filmmaking students at the local community college and never meant to be aired. (Which would explain why they never film during the summer.) Either way, the question is Serious Business to some.

The question is answered by the guy behind the camera in season nine, when the documentary finally does air: They stuck around because Jim and Pam were interesting.

Spoofed in this article in The Onion: "Sheffield said that the footage will be drastically cut down and used primarily as B-roll for the planned 90-minute educational film about paper manufacture and production."

There's also a Japanese heart surgeon working in the warehouse. However, this one is justified, as he is in hiding from the Yakuza after (apparently intentionally) botching a heart transplant operation for their boss.

Michael mentions that one of the cleaners was a neurosurgeon in his home country, but it turns out he was kidding.

Michael references this trope, wondering what high status job he would have held in the old country, apparently assuming that the reason for high number of immigrants with these qualifications was that these professions are common abroad, rather than the reality of immigration laws heavily favoring highly skilled immigrants. Vikram gives him a look of disbelief.

Written By Cast Member: Paul Liebestein, Mindy Kaling and B.J. Novak were on the writing staff from the beginning. Steve Carrell later wrote "Survivor Man" and Season 2 finale "Casino Night".

Wrong Genre Savvy: Both Michael and Dwight seem to operate under the assumption that they're the Gary Stu hero of their own Hollywood movie. In particular, Michael seems to think he's in a romantic comedy, while Dwight's living in an apocalyptic action movie.

Because Stanley is the only black employee at the office for the first five seasons (Darryl would join them after being promoted from the warehouse in the sixth), Michael thinks of him as his Black Best Friend and street-smart mentor. He fails to pick up on the fact that Stanley can't stand him, and that he's even more solidly upper middle-class that the other employees.

Michael combines this with Horrible Judge of Character when assembling his basketball team. He first refuses Phyllis who turns out to be great at passing and dodging as well as Kevin who later proves himself a three-point shooting wonder. He insists on Stanley joining but is absolutely terrible at the game.

He also grudgingly accepts Dwight, but only because he's unable to assemble a team after dismissing just about everyone who would have otherwise been a star player on the court. Dwight does prove to have good skill and unflinching determination to win.

Under Charles' leadership, Dwight laments that The Office used to be a combination of "...the Roman Empire, the Wild West, war-torn Poland, and Poland."

Yes-Man: Andy and Dwight were huge yes-men at first. After his anger-management, Andy toned it down, while Dwight seems to have become more contemptuous of Michael as time has gone on.

Everyone in the office has a tendency to become this whenever a new person takes a spot among management. Most notable are with Charles Miner(who turns out to be one himself), Deangelo Vickers, and Robert California. Well, all except Dwight.

You Fail Biology Forever: In the quote below, Dwight is predicting what will happen as a result of all the women in the office being in the same room for a "women in the workplace" seminar.

Dwight: They stay in there too long, they’re gonna get on the same cycle. Wreak havoc on our plumbing.

Dwight, after using the Sheriff's Department computer to look up medical records.

Dwight: There are an enormous amount of yeast infections in this county. (looks thoughtful) It must be because we're downriver of that old bread factory.

When he sees that Karen is pregnant, Michael immediately asks if it is Jim's kid, even though they broke up almost two years previously. When he finds out Pam is pregnant and is chewing her and Jim out for not telling him sooner, he asks, "How long have you known? A year? Two years?"

Dwight: I don't care what Jim said! I am 99% sure that is NOT the real Ben Franklin. (Beat) 98% sure.

In the same episode Michael refers to Ben Franklin as one of our most popular Presidents.

When Michael hides the Sabre leads from the sales teams and organizes a scavenger hunt to teach them a lesson, Jim's first clue is "look under the first American President." Jim looks in the parking lot and finds his next clue under a Ford Lincoln.

Kevin's mental math leading him to conclude Pam weighs over 200 pounds. Or any math he does, really. It explains a lot that Michael confesses to Erin in "Scott's Tots" that Kevin had applied to the warehouse, but Michael had a good feeling about Kevin as an accountant.

Kevin's spelling is equally bad as he proves in the Cookie Monster parody plot:

Kevin:C is for suspension.

Your Approval Fills Me with Shame: The stripper at Bob Vance's warehouse bachelor party gets two of these when she tells Pam she's hot enough to strip and Angela that she loves her baby posters.

When Andy forms a band with Darryl and Kevin, he asks several people their opinion on the first song they create. Everybody hates it, but Andy perseveres in claiming it has potential for success. Then Creed says he loves it, which totally bums him out.

You Look Familiar: Blake Garrett Rosenthal, who played Dwight's nephew from the season 9 episode "The Farm", was originally in the season 7 episode "WUHPF.com" as a child on the hayride.

You Must Be Cold: Inverted. Erin puts her coat on Andy in "New Leads." He kisses her right then and there.

Subverted when Dwight looks like he is comforting Pam after she helped Jim and Karen solve a dispute they were having. Dwight starts to take his jacket off, looking like he is about to offer it to her, then simply ties it around his waist, noting that "It's hot in here".

Played with in "Garden Party". Kelly remarks that she's cold, but Ryan just tells her she should have brought a jacket. He later gives his jacket to Robert California instead.

Your Cheating Heart: When Angela was engaged to Andy, she cheated on him with Dwight. Later, when she was married to Senator Robert Lipton, she cheated with Dwight again (her son is later revealed to be his). The senator, meanwhile, was having an affair with Oscar.

Your Costume Needs Work: Dwight reacts this way once he realizes that Jim has dressed like him and adopted his speech patterns and mannerisms as a prank.

Pam (and apparently Erin, despite knowing him for only a year) are able to prepare all of Michael's favorite things, food or otherwise, whenever they fear he'll come into work in a bad mood, such as post-breakup.

Jim says his favorite is soft shell crabs during the first Halloween episode.

Kelly: "I don't talk trash, I talk smack. Trash talk is all hypothetical, like 'Your Mom is so fat, she could eat the internet.' But smack talk is all like 'You're ugly, and I've got the evidence right there.'"

Kelly (to Pam): "Your man is so skinny he needs steroids just to watch baseball."

Kelly: "Were Jim's parents first cousins who also sucked at ping pong?"

You Shall Not Pass: Jim pulls this on Dwight to prevent him from entering a meeting where Robert was planning to fire him. Jim manages to physically hold Dwight back just long enough for Todd Packer to unknowingly step up to get the axe instead.

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